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Wpnfire · 06-23-2015, 02:41 PM

Stronghold - Summoning

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal, Symphonic Black Metal, Dungeon Synth
Released: May 11, 1999
Position in discography: fourth album

This album is well outside my comfort zone–an infinite abyss stands between this album and what I normally listen to. There is almost nothing I like about this.

Before I continue, I would like to make one thing perfectly clear: **** symphonic metal.

There is a reason I say that though. My hatred of symphonic music originates from my childhood. I have three older sisters, the youngest of which is six years older than me, and two of them played instruments when they were younger. Between the two of them the harp, violin, viola, upright bass, and both played the piano. They both also sung in the choir though at different levels because they were different ages.

Now, because I was the youngest, and my youngest sister is still six years older than I am, when I was around the age of seven and until I was around eleven years old I had to go to each and everyone of their concerts. One of my most hated rituals growing up was attending the dreaded sister concert. To be fair, some of these concerts were entertaining, but this was rare. Most of the time, they were either boring or excruciatingly boring. Mind you, my opinions of these concerts are all based off of my recollection of them, which should be taken with a heaping of salt because I was eight and it felt like I was at these concerts for three times as long as they actually were (an hour and a half at most). So yeah, I grew to despise those damn concerts–and there were SOOO many (there were not that many. Again, I was eight, and sitting through one concert felt like four.)

Oh and this album came out in 1999, the first year I was dragged to one my sisters' concerts. Also, May 11 is my birthday. Weird.

As far as this album though…well where to begin? First of all, does it sounds like the soundtrack to the Lord Of the Rings? Ignoring the vocals, yes, it does, but I do not recall there being synths or epic vocals in the ost so that is a silly comparison to make. And it sure as **** is not superior to the original soundtrack, that is outright blasphemy. Anyone who says that should be ashamed of themselves for uttering that. The original soundtrack is fanciful, epic, gloomy and doomy, and evil all when necessary.

So yeah, I can not stand this. 1/5. The intro is cool, but the double-tracked echoey black metal vocals are awful, and the operatic vocals are way too intense and sound horribly misplaced.

Also what is with the cover? The back cover of the album is awesome, but the front cover is ****. We get it, Nordics love Hammerheart, but do you have to put every cover in the same color scheme as that?

Spoiler for This is what the cover should have looked like.:

Oh, and if you are wondering what instrument I played, I did not play one. I am not entirely sure why either. I am now going to pull a Varg and claim that me not playing an instrument was actually intentional, that I rebelled from that path, and I have always been anti-establishment from the beginning. A ****ing kvlt mother****er, that is what I am.

06-23-2015, 02:41 PM	#39 (permalink)
Wpnfire Dragon Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Kansas, United States Posts: 2,744	Stronghold - Summoning Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal, Symphonic Black Metal, Dungeon Synth Released: May 11, 1999 Position in discography: fourth album This album is well outside my comfort zone–an infinite abyss stands between this album and what I normally listen to. There is almost nothing I like about this. Before I continue, I would like to make one thing perfectly clear: ** symphonic metal. There is a reason I say that though. My hatred of symphonic music originates from my childhood. I have three older sisters, the youngest of which is six years older than me, and two of them played instruments when they were younger. Between the two of them the harp, violin, viola, upright bass, and both played the piano. They both also sung in the choir though at different levels because they were different ages. Now, because I was the youngest, and my youngest sister is still six years older than I am, when I was around the age of seven and until I was around eleven years old I had to go to each and everyone of their concerts. One of my most hated rituals growing up was attending the dreaded sister concert. To be fair, some of these concerts were entertaining, but this was rare. Most of the time, they were either boring or excruciatingly boring. Mind you, my opinions of these concerts are all based off of my recollection of them, which should be taken with a heaping of salt because I was eight and it felt like I was at these concerts for three times as long as they actually were (an hour and a half at most). So yeah, I grew to despise those damn concerts–and there were SOOO many (there were not that many. Again, I was eight, and sitting through one concert felt like four.) Oh and this album came out in 1999, the first year I was dragged to one my sisters' concerts. Also, May 11 is my birthday. Weird. As far as this album though…well where to begin? First of all, does it sounds like the soundtrack to the Lord Of the Rings? Ignoring the vocals, yes, it does, but I do not recall there being synths or epic vocals in the ost so that is a silly comparison to make. And it sure as is not superior to the original soundtrack, that is outright blasphemy. Anyone who says that should be ashamed of themselves for uttering that. The original soundtrack is fanciful, epic, gloomy and doomy, and evil all when necessary. So yeah, I can not stand this. 1/5. The intro is cool, but the double-tracked echoey black metal vocals are awful, and the operatic vocals are way too intense and sound horribly misplaced. Also what is with the cover? The back cover of the album is awesome, but the front cover is *. We get it, Nordics love Hammerheart, but do you have to put every cover in the same color scheme as that? Spoiler* for This is what the cover should have looked like.: Oh, and if you are wondering what instrument I played, I did not play one. I am not entirely sure why either. I am now going to pull a Varg and claim that me not playing an instrument was actually intentional, that I rebelled from that path, and I have always been anti-establishment from the beginning. A **ing kvlt motherer, that is what I am. __________________ Last.FM My RYM Ratings My Glitchwave Beta Profile**