Summoning
I think that Summoning
is one of the best and most unique bands in the metal branch. A hard working
band that keeps a low profile and whose each release is a real and of outstanding
beauty, diamond. Right now their upcoming release is in progress and taking
this into account we thought that the time was perfect to ask both Silenius
and Protector, a few questions regarding this new album and not only. Check
out what they've told us...
1.IT'S BEEN ALMOST 3 YEARS SINCE YOUR LAST
FULL LENGTH ALBUM, BESIDES THE LAST MINI CD "LOST TALES" AND NOW A NEW
RELEASE IS AT HAND. WHICH IS ITS FINAL TITLE?
Silenius: We still have not thought of the
title of the new CD. All I can say is that we have 6 songs already finished.
The musical direction did not change at all. Again the songs will be very
hymnlike as always. Maybe we will use more fantasy sounds again like on
earlier releases. The musical concept will be based on the Sillmarillion
again. Maybe one topic over two or three songs and another topic
over the next few songs and so on. We already have some ideas of some special
features concerning lyrics, photos,etc. which I don't want to talk now.
Originally we have already found a cool cover for the CD but we did
not get the rights, so we have to search again. What else can I say? Maybe
this CD will be the last one in which whe use Tolkien lyrics but nothing
is sure by now. Nevertheless for the outstanding output you can expect
a typical Summoning release and nothing less.
2.WHEN WILL IT BE IN STORES? WHICH IS ITS MUSICAL
DIRECTION?
Silenius: I hope the CD will be finished somewhen
in the end of this year. I can not give you a detailed plan of the
release. I think the earliest possible release could be in the end of this
year, but I am afraid it won't be out until January next year.
3.IN "LET MORTAL..." ALBUM YOUR TURN WAS MORE
OBVIOUS THAN EVER BEFORE, MAKING YOUR MUSIC SOUND LIKE A SOUNDTRACK. IS
THIS YOUR NEW APSECT OF YOUR MUSIC IN THE FUTURE?
Silenius: Well, talking about music Summoning
was always near to soundtracks since "Minas Morgul". I think you meant
using spoken word samples. In this case we will again work with them to
bring more atmosphere and variety in these songs but I can not say anything
more detailed about this because everything is in progress right now.
4."STRONGHOLD" WAS THE FIRST ALBUM YOU USED FEMALE
VOCALS. ARE THERE ANY PLANS FOR ANYTHING SIMILAR IN THE FUTURE? IS THERE
EVER GONNA BE A THIRD MEMBER IN THE BAND?
Protector: There are definitely no plans like
this and surely there will never be a third bandmember in Summoning, we
will stay a duo forever.
5.FROM YOUR SITE WE LEARN ABOUT A NEW SINGER IN
YOUR PROJECT "DIE VERBANNTEN KINDER EVAS". HER NAME IS SINEM AND SHE IS
FROM TURKEY. HOW DID THIS COOPERATION OCCURRED WITH HER?
Protector: On the page I wrote that I am searching
for a singer for my dark wave project "Die Verbannten Kinder Evas"; it
is melancholic classical inspired dark wave music far away from the music
of Summoning. I got to know Sinem because she was always a Summoning fan
and one day she contacted me. She already had sung some DVKE cover versions
this time and I liked her voice very much and since the previous singer
left the band I asked her if we could do the recording over the far distance
just with the help of internet.
6.ALL THE SONGS FROM YOUR UPCOMING ALBUM ARE COMPOSED.
HAVE THEY BEEN RECORDED YET? HOW DIFFICULT IS IT HAVING A MEMBER LIVING
SO FAR AWAY FROM YOU?
Protector: Yes all songs of the new DVKE CD
are already recorded, only her recordings are missing. The rehearsals were
fine, but unfortunately some problems occurred so that the recording is
very much delayed.
7.CAN YOU REVEAL ANY TITLES FROM THE UPCOMING
SUMMONING ALBUM? ARE THE LYRICS ONCE AGAIN INSPIRED BY TOLKIEN'S BOOKS
AMD WILL YOU USE AGAIN ANY OTHER THEMES FOR THEM?
Silenius: We will again use Tolkien lyrics
from the Silmarillion. Maybe the topics from the flight of the Noldor,
the battle of Gondor and some more. We want to use one topic over several
songs so it is a kind of parted concept album in several parts. Until now
I did not find any new fantasy authors who are worth making a concept of
their works. I am still in search of something new. We will see what can
attract me in future.
8.YOUR MUSIC NOW ESCAPES FROM THE RESTRICTING
FRAMES OF BLACK METAL. YET YOUR FANS
FOLLOW YOUR MUSIC COURSE WITH LOYALTY AND
FANATICISM FOR YEARS NOW. HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THIS?
Silenius: First of all I must state that Summonig
left their black metal path since "Minas Morgul". I think the reason why
so many older black metal fans followed our path is first because we still
did not neglect our roots and still kept the black metal vocals and the
guitar lines which still are connected with the genre, and second because
we did not change our style since many years by now; in the contrary to
many other black metal bands and I think the third very important point
why we still have many black metal followers is that Summoning is one of
the few bands like Graveland and Falkenbach who play slow motion music
and it seems to be that many black metal fans who like the usual fast forward
black metal see in us a kind of musical relaxing in contrary to bands like
"DarkThrone" "Mayhem" etc.
9.ARE YOU WATCHING THE LATEST EVENTS IN THE BLACK
METAL SCENE? WHAT OTHER KIND OF MUSIC ARE YOU FOND OF AT THE PRESENT TIME?
Silenius: As I work in a music store in Vieanna
I am of course close at hand to all the new releases but to be honest nearly
nothing at all attracts me. In the contrary I prefer to listen to similar
types of music like dark ambient ritual industrial and milliatar music.
10.YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE BANDS.
YOU DON'T HAVE THE BEST RELATIONSHIP WITH PUBLICITY, PLUS YOU DON'T PLAY
LIVE OFTEN. DO SUMMONING CONSTITUTE JUST AN INNER WAY OF EXPRESSING
YOUR MUSIC AND OF COURSE YOUR LOVE FOR TOLKIEN'S FANTASY?
Silenius: Well together with all side projects
and band participations we have released over 20 CDs by now. So if you
think this is not very productive then what do you think of being productive?
But you are right that we don't have so much relationships with other bands.
That is because we are not the type of guys who like to creep into some
unwashed asses of people who are of no interest to us. So is this
bad I ask you?
11.NOW ONE MORE THING... THE DISSOLUTION OF ABIGOR
IS A FACT. CAN YOU TELL US WHY THIS CAME TO HAPPEN?
Silenius: I left Abigor a shot time before
„Channeling … „ was released. The reason for this step was because I did
not like the songs at all and in general I did not like the musical progress
of Abigor which more and more went away from the classical black metal
style to a more technical version. On the other side this was the time
when T.T. had a serious heroin problem which of course led to a musical
breakdown.
12.HOW MUCH DID YOU LIKE THE TRILOGY OF LORD OF
THE RINGS AFTER YOU SAW THE LAST PART?
Silenius: We both liked the movie very much.
It was obvious that it will not be a 1:1 translation of the book, but we
don't care about it because this never was the intention of Peter Jackson
to replace the book. The pictures and charcters where very well done, only
the soundtrack was disappointing cause it did not contain any real catchy
tunes.
13.HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO GREECE? IF YES, HOW MUCH
DID YOU LIKE IT?
Protector: Yes I was in Athens on time. I
gave a DVKE concert there as support for "Sol Invictus". The days there
were very fine.
14.TELL US SOMETHING TO END THIS INTERVIEW, FOR
ALL YOUR NUMEROUS GREEK FANS.
Silenius: Thank you for the interview and
up the banners to all our fans in Greece.
Vaso "Necromass"
Prassa
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