Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame

Artist: Summoning
Label: Napalm
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 768586909727
EAN: 0768586909727
ASIN: B000067F7A

Release Date: 2002-06-11

Related Categories:

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Death Metal

| Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

General

| Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Listmania:

Metal of Middle Earth
Best Metal albums I've discovered in 2004
IcemanJ's Favorite Metal albums
medievally yours
Dark Tranquillity and Summoning
My very favorite CDs (in order)
Summoning

Tracks:

A New Power Is Rising
South Away
In Hollow Halls Beneath The Fells
Our Foes Shall Fall
The Mountain King's Return
Runes Of Power
Ashen Cold
Farewell

Similar Items:

Dol Guldur
Stronghold
Oath Bound
Nightshade Forest
Lugburz

Customer Reviews:

Great 'background' music, nothing more (for me)........2006-12-04

Item the first. Music tastes vary incredibly. What sounds spectacular and moving to one person, sounds like pure cheese to another. Sometimes this happens to people who look back at old music they liked and just shudder. (I do that with some of the pop divas I liked back in the 80's and 90's.. no I won't name them or their songs, I think I've embarrassed myself enough already!) A phrase that comes to mind is: "It doesn't matter who moves you. It only matters that you're capable of being moved."

Item the second. I've only recently begun to branch out my 'Metal' tastes from, well, Queensryche. I've owned "Dream Theater"'s "Images and Words" and "Symphony X's" "Odyssey" but was underwhelmed by each. Apocalyptica is the only other group in the 'genre' that I really liked, and of course they're not exactly representative. Lately my appreciation for the last two mentioned has gone up incredibly, and as mentioned, I branched out.

Therefore, my first experience with Summoning, "Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame", is shaped by comparison to two main things:

1. Queensryche and the variety of new Metal albums I've picked up (by bands such as Sonata Arctica, Kamelot, Nightwish, Iced Earth, Within Temptation, Dragonforce, and Demons and Wizards).

2. "Lord of the Rings Soundtrack" - Lemme 'splain. When I looked at Summoning, I was looking for something with a fantasy feel but darker, to be used as background music for a "Midnight" role playing game campaign (if you play AD&D and would like to play in a campaign setting which can basically be described as "What if Sauron had won?" you owe it to yourself to check this out). Thus part of my feeling when listening to it was a comparison to some of the darker sequences in the LotR soundtrack, and since these guys are very strongly influenced by Tolkien, it seemed like a natural.

Item the third. My actual rating for this CD is 3 1/2 stars but because I can't give that rating, I had to subjectively choose, and since I haven't felt like listening to it by itself anytime recently, it gets the lower end of the two bracketing ratings.

So.. finally...

Item the review.

The simplest description I give of my feelings of this CD is, 'nice background music'. Remember above when I mentioned this was part of a branching out into other kinds of Metal than just Queensryche? I picked up probably 8 or so CDs including this one from all kinds of groups. All except for this CD had moments which pulled me from whatever I was doing on a computer or reading, to just listen. Some CDs didn't let me do anything else at all for most of their play time. I started this CD, determined to just listen to it to categorize the songs according to possible moments to use them in the above mentioned "Midnight" campaign game and managed only to listen to the first song completely through before wandering to the computer. I couldn't remember one theme from the CD afterwards. I do remember thinking that the music was good, but each time I've sat down to really listen, I'm struck by the following:

It's very repetitive. Ok, most songs are. But most songs are also about half as long as these songs. Some of the songs are so repetitive that I wondered if the group didn't just record two minutes worth and then put it on a loop. The best example for me was "In Hollow Halls Beneath the Fells", especially the repetition of "In the darkness... bind them". The first time you hear Gandalf say this, it's pretty cool (well, fantasy geek cool anyhow). The second time, it's still pretty cool. By the fifth+ time I was almost cringing/laughing.

The lyrics don't really make me want to learn them. See, most Metal groups have hard to understand lyrics for me. But most of them make me want to learn the lyrics. This CD doesn't. It might just be the 'death metal' style to the vocals combined with the fact that the lyrics aren't even included (where's the logic in that by the way?) I'm more likely to get into a song when I understand the lyrics (or at least THINK I understand them) and after the first couple of listens I have no idea what's being said - except when excerpts from the animated LotR movie are played). That said, the style of 'singing' works very well for this group.

All this said, I still 'like' the CD, but I doubt very much it'll get many playings by itself outside of the Midnight campaign. It'll probably work fine in a mix with other CDs, but compared to my other recent purchases, it's not going to get the featured playings that they will.

"Epic" is a massive understatement...........2005-05-02

I once got lost in a land I didn't know while listening to this recording, and loved every moment of it...

Ok, that might have been a little over-dramatic. But in the middle of no-mans-land, Oregon; in an absolute oasis of pacific northwest scenic beauty, there is a resort city called Sunriver. It consists of about four-hundred ornately designed, almost castle-like log cabins, a large market-place, two hundred miles of bike-path, and an endless sea of grass and wheat feilds that are beautiful enough to simply gaze at rather than walk.

Without trying to sound too medieval; it was an awesome golden sunset on a friday afternoon and I began to smell adventure in the hills. Now, I must be frank, I am about as far off from a D&D freak or Everquest-junkie as you can possibly be, with musical interests that lay mostly in Tool, NIN, Porcupine Tree, and ocasoinally Brian Lustmord. But upon locking-in to my 12-speed and hitting "play" on my Ipod to initiate the pre-set "Let Mortal Heroes..." playlist, I felt a chemical change take place in my body. My heart palpatations strangely began to heighten, my adrenaline level slightly rose, and I swear to god my eyes felt as if they were dialating. "This music is incredible", I said to myself. I basked for what seemed like hours in this invigorating aural steroid, through bike paths, sunset viewings, and spiritually enlightening walks. It was during this incredible time that I realised: this is no ordinary music. The sounds commited to this compact disc are near-magickal, in a way that taps into the inner-most exploratory instincts in man. Instincts that transend time, society, and acceptance. It is a recording that truly brings out the man's natural inclination towards adventure. And, as I have discovered first-hand, it is not a mere "childish fascade" put on by fantasy nerds; it is very real. It proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that the ideaologies shared by both Don Quijote and Varg Vikernes are true --reality is what one chooses to accept. Had I kept this music playing in my ears untill this time, I may very well have been in a diferent time --mentally-- right now.

Take it from a guy who's never dressed up in a wizard's robe in his life, this recording has power, power that is real. There is something so strong about this recording, that it sends goosebumps up my arms each time I re-listen it. It gets in touch with the dormant hunter-like instict that we all have inside. The empowerment and curiosity it envokes is so overpowering, it is almost scary. Listen; I dare you to take the plunge.

An Epic, Tolkien-Inspired Masterpiece........2005-01-04

I've been so immensely addicted to this album since I got it. I am not really a fan of Tolkien, but that is who inspires this amazing band and gives them the medieval/fantasy setting in their music, thus their uniqueness and greatness. Even though the instruments are mostly synthesized or keyboard sounds, it doesn't matter. It's perfect like this. I'm sure you know Summoning isn't really metal; they keep delving into their own little genre-breaking dimension. Even though this album still contains some heavy guitars and mostly harsh black-metal style vocals, almost everyone would agree this is nothing even close to traditional metal. The songs are kind of slow-paced and very symphonic, but they manage to give me such an adrenaline rush sometimes without being too aggressive. Some people might think the music is a bit too repetitive, but I think that enhances the atmosphere, and also the parts are so good, you want them to be long anyway... it's the same situation as Agalloch.

This is the 4th Summoning album I bought, and is so far the most addicting. First was Dol Gildur, and I think that remains my favorite still, but this one certainly lured me in much more. Since then I've also bought Stronghold, but I've been so addicted to this I've only listened to it once so far. I still need Minus Morgul, then my collection will be complete, except for Lost Tales and demos.

The first track "New Power is Rising" is a decent-length intro that starts off with some chanting, imperial trumpets and triumphant, epic percussion. "Svuth Aman" has a great trumpet melody and some good guitar work, not much else I can say. "In the Hollow Halls Beneath the Fells" is probably my second favorite track. It has such a perfect siege of drums, sinister vocals, great keyboard melodies and guitar melodies. After about 3 and a half minutes, it gets softer with quiet trumpets and a nice keyboard melody then you hear the voice of Gandalf say "In the darkness, find me" and then the music suddenly booms back to even heavier than the first part. That phrase is repeated throughout the rest of the song which I really like. "Ashen Cold" is my favorite song on this album. What else can I say other than the melodies in it are the most memorable? The last song, "Farewell" has some really epic singing at the end, kind of choir-like and echoed, works very well and will get stuck in your head until you hear something else. Also the trumpets are great in this song.

Well, if you like symphonic/epic kind of metal, you'd probably like this, although like I said it is not too metal. I doubt people not into metal at all would be able to handle it, but it's not impossible. I hope Summoning continues to make many more great albums. Long live Summoning!

Our foes shall fall.......2004-08-27

The sixth Summoning release, is sort of comparable (in sound) to "Stronghold", very loud and happly angry atmospheric Tolkien music. All the songs are fantastic, namely "In Hollow Halls Beneath the Fells", "Our Foes Shall Fall", "The Mountain King's Return" and "Ashen Cold". The artwork is very detailed and impressive as well (actually, all Summoning's artwork is the real image(s) of middle earth). The pics of Protector and Silenius are crazy as always, too. Overall a good listen while accompaning all related LOTR books.

Great atmospheric music,.......2003-12-19

This is wonderful atmospheric music in the vein of Tolkien's works. True, this is considered a metal band but the music is accessible to all and the vocals shouldn't put anyone off. In fact,they enhance the mood of the album.
The band, while they use alot of syth and keyboard, still manages to make it sound like they have an entire orchestra at their diposal. In fact, a considerable number of tracks here could easily fit into a movie score.
The ending song is especially moving as they use a clean male vocals, and what sounds like a chorus to accompany him.
The only reservation that I have is that some of the tracks are repetitive, but overall it still has an enjoyable and unique sound to it.
I hope Summoning continues on the artistic path they have chosen for themselves.

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

The Best of ~ Matt McGinn

Carry the Wounded

Peaceville, Vol. 4 ~ Various Artists

Dolores Keane ~ Dolores Keane

Plays Fairuz Habbeytak Bessay ~ Claude Ciari - Bernard Gerard

Cocktail, Vol. 9 ~ Various Artists

How Did It Ever Come to This, Pt. 1 ~ Easyworld

McLeod's Daughters: Songs from the Series Volume 2 ~ Original Soundtrack

18 Famous Film & TV Themes ~ London Starlight Orchestra

Back to Mine ~ Dave Seaman