In a basement in Austria, there lived a black metal band. It was not a black metal band filled with satanic themes and a low recording quality, nor was it a Norwegian band that stabbed people or burned churches in it's spare time.
It was Summoning
And that means Tolkien inspired lyrics, majestic atmospheric soundscapes, and a much needed change of pace for black metal.
Welcome to Metal Transmitted by Relays. This month we're featuring metal bands influenced by Tolkien.
And the time has come to dive into Black Metal, but don't be scared, it's not really as black as you've been led to believe, a fact I largely credit to Summoning.
They borrowed the foundation of their sound from the Black Metal subgenre but rather than focusing on anger, despair, or anti religion themes, they wrote songs about Middle Earth.
They also recorded the first metal song written entirely in the Black Speech of Mordor.
Their career has spanned over eight albums in which they've established a deep Tolkien nerd credibility far beyond any other band I've ever come across. They also pioneered the atmospheric black metal scene in inspiring several other bands to contribute to their particular style of black metal.
But if you're a fan of the classic black metal sound, they have an album for that too.
#metal #tunestr #tolkien #heavymetal #music #grownostr #metaltransmittedbyrelays
Catch up on previous notes in this series here
