Minas Morgul (Album)

chronology
Minas Morgul
Studio album by Summoning
Publication ; (s)	1995
Label (s)	Napalm Records
Format (s)	CD, LP
Genre (s)	Extreme metal , ambient
Title (number)	11
running time	67 min 51 s
occupation	Richard "Protector" Lederer - vocals , electric guitar , keyboard ; Michael "Silenius" Gregor - vocals, keyboard, electric bass ;
production	Summoning
Studio (s)	Hörnix Studio

Minas Morgul ( sindarin for 'Tower of Black Magic ') is the second studio album by the Austrian experimental extreme metal band Summoning . It was released on Napalm Records in 1995. According to the band, it is considered by many fans and the band itself as a secret debut album Summonings and continues to be one of the most important releases for Summoning itself.

Minas Morgul was released in 2007 together with its predecessor album Lugburz and the successor album Dol Guldur by the Spanish label Temple of Darkness Records as a picture LP box and thus for the first time on vinyl.

Style and text

Compared to the previous album Lugburz from the same year, Minas Morgul marks a clear turning point in the development of Summoning. After the separation from drummer Alexander "Trifixion" Trondl , the drum parts were played with the keyboard (not with the drum computer ), which is rather unusual for Black Metal , but has become typical for Summoning over time.

While Lugburz was still oriented towards traditional Black Metal, keyboards were now increasingly used as melody-bearing instruments on Minas Morgul . In contrast to Dol Guldur from 1996, the guitar riffs are not just pure accompaniment , but take a back seat. The vocals are typical of Black Metal screaming , some of it was also electronically distorted .

As with all albums prior to Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame , Summoning used only themes from The Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien for the lyrics . Text passages or poems by Tolkien from the novels were partly taken over unchanged, since Summoning "see and feel himself as composer and not as poet" and therefore do not write himself.

Songs

According to reviewer Horrschd from medienkonverter.de, the intro Soul Wandering is “the only average thing on the CD”. Christian Heckmann complains on metal1.info that the melody, as nice as it is, cannot keep the listener engaged and is boring.

Lugburz is named after the name of the Dark Tower Barad-dûr Saurons in Mordor in the Black Language . The poems Cold Be Hand and Heart and Bone ( Cold be hand and heart and bone ) and When winter First Begins to Bite ( If only the winter restores ) form the textual basis of the song. Christian Heckmann complains about the lack of imagination and the lack of variety in the piece.

For The Passing of the Gray Company , the poem was Over the Country There Lies a Long Shadow ( Across the country, is long shadow ) from the third volume of Lord of the Rings used. There the second chapter of the fifth book is called The Passing of the Gray Company . Several Dúnedain forest runners who follow Aragorn on the paths of the dead through the White Mountains are referred to as the gray band .

While Christian Heckmann thinks that the piece follows on from the unimaginative Lugburz , Myrn from metal.de thinks that since the song was "so perfectly organically arranged, [...] you can listen to the melodies for hours". Horrschd from medienkonverter.de considers The Passing of the Gray Company to be "an excellent piece of music, brilliant in its composition", but it is also an example of the poor quality of the equipment used in production . He compares the sound of the keyboards with Super Nintendo soundtracks.

The river Morthond (, Blackroot '/ Black Basic') is named after the fourth song, the text of which consists of parts of the poem We Heard of the horn in the Hills Ringing ( We heard from the sound of horns in the mountains ), which in the case of Théoden theme , composed. For Horrschd on medienkonverter.de "[ Morthond ] manages like no other song to build up a downward spiral of desperation in the listener's head". The structure of the piece reflects the course of negative phases in real life.

For Christian Heckmann, Marching Homewards is the only song on the album that he “would voluntarily listen to in the full possession of an intellectual power”. For John Chedsey of Satan Stole My Teddybear , the song, and especially its faster parts, are examples of the old black metal style that is still present at Minas Morgul . Ralf Scheidler on bloodchamber.de gives Marching Homewards an example of how the "harsh simplicity of Black Metal [...] merges with epic keyboard arrangements and extremely successful canned percussions", "which gives the music an almost meditative character".

The short interlude Orthanc was named after Saruman's tower in Isengard . According to Heckmann, the instrumental is an exception to the lack of variety on the album.

Orthanc leads on to Ungolianth (in the spelling of the first German editions of Tolkien's Silmarillion ). The spider creature Ungoliant is the namesake for the song in which the theft of the Silmaril by Morgoth and Ungoliant is told from Morgoth's point of view.

For John Chedsey, Dagor Bragollach is the first track on the album that arouses the active attention of the listener. The song, named after the battle of the sudden fire from the Silmarillion , does without guitar accompaniment and for Horrschd from medienkonverter.de has "one of the most rousing" melodies he has ever heard. Myrn describes the song as “elemental”, Ralf Scheidler as one of the “spherical, almost classic” pieces on the album.

Most of the text of The Legend of the Master Ring is from the poem The Lord of the Rings ( LOTR ) Tolkien from the first volume of the book of the same name. Horrschd described the piano melody as "the best melody [...] that has ever been hammered into keys".

Dor Daedeloth , named after the land of the terrible shadow that surrounds Angband in northern Beleriand , concludes the album.

Reception and criticism

Minas Morgul and the change in style from classic to keyboard-heavy, experimental Extreme Metal, which has been typical for Summoning since then, were largely positively received by critics and fans. On metal.de, Myrn gave the top grade 10 and praised the atmospherically dense, complex, and rhythmically stirring arrangement of the songs "without just one unimaginative, boring passage".

In his review for The Metal Observer , Paul awards 8 out of 10 points for a “compelling […] and unfailingly interesting” album by a “unique and fascinating band”.

The reviewer AK from Sputnikmusic emphasizes Summonings' pioneering role in the field of atmospheric Black Metal. He appreciates the precise interplay of the instruments and gives the "bombastic, epic" album 4.5 out of 5 possible points. Coldhand rated the album 10 out of 10 on metalstorm.net. For him, too, the epic and medieval atmosphere makes Minas Morgul “one of the most perfect pieces of Black Metal art”. In addition, unlike most of the critics, he praised the production and mixing of the album and the quality of the equipment used.

The immature production of Minas Morgul and above all the sound of the keyboards are a major shortcoming of the album for many reviewers. For Horrschd, the "sound of the keyboards, which really deserves the predicate 'squeaking and actually horrible" is the reason to give the album, which he previously praised in the highest tones, a 5 instead of the highest score of 6. Deadleft's criticism at voenger.de goes in the same direction.

While the length and the reduced tempo of the individual songs as well as the frequent repetitions of the themes are particularly praised in some reviews, this is a major flaw of the album for some critics. Above all, John Chedsey describes the first half of Minas Morgul as "tedious at best to sit through" and refers to the later, in his opinion significantly better releases of the band.

Christian Heckmann, on the other hand, tears the album almost completely and awards 3 out of 10 points. Above all, the drum computer programmed unimaginatively in his opinion and the constantly repeating, in his opinion varied guitar riffs are the reason for his sometimes harsh criticism. The production and mixing of the album are also criticized. So the vocals are powerless and mixed too far into the background, the guitar is one-dimensional and thin, the drum computer seems sterile and the whole thing is finally "flattened by the keyboards". It is true that Minas Morgul “actually sometimes flashes competence”, but the pieces are almost always too long not to get boring. So be Minas Morgul "no cruel ears torture but really just dead boring".

Track list

Soul Wandering - 2:32 (Instrumental)
Lugburz - 7:15
The Passing of the Gray Company - 9:16
Morthond - 6:44
Marching Homewards - 8:11 am
Orthanc - 1:39 (instrumental)
Ungolianth - 6:37
Dagor Bragollach 5:05
Through the Forest of Dol Guldur - 4:47
The Legend of the Master Ring - 5:27
Dor Daedeloth - 10:16

Album cover

Like the covers of all studio albums up to and including Stronghold, the cover of Minas Morgul also depicts a castle or fortress. The artwork, which is mainly in shades of blue, shows a fortified city in a deep gorge. Myrn describes the cover in his review on metal.de as “poor” and advises the reader not to be put off by it.