SUMMONING - Stronghold CD

Up to and including the release of "Stronghold" in 1999, Summoning had been consistently improving musically. They had a shaky start at first, but corrected that on their second release "Minas Morgul" which would provide the listener with the blueprints of the sound that Summoning would stick to from then on. Now, on "Stronghold", Summoning returns with what is their strongest album out of the four they had released at the time. "Stronghold" is not a turning point in terms of quality or sound in regards to the slow, atmospheric approach, but how they go about achieving that sound is slightly different this time around.

Reverb is basically an instrument itself when it comes to Summoning's music. Every instrument heard on this album is complimented with a hint of reverb which is fairly obvious, although not at all distracting or bothersome. This reverb helps to create a spacy element which really works well for the overall atmosphere. For Summoning, it always comes down to atmosphere, and "Stronghold" is no exception. This is truly a masterpiece, and an epic album. From here, they would continue to steadily improve for the most part. This may be a monotonous album to some and certainly a lot of people may not appreciate the wall of sound this band creates. However, those who really enjoy extremely atmospheric black metal should eat this up.