For all of its self-righteous elitism and snootiness, heavy metal has always had a blissful, cheese-filled marriage to the realms of nerdery and fantasy dorkiness. From the unfiltered, exaggerated bravado of power metal to the (slightly less embarrassing) infatuation with Lovecraft’s creatures in black and death metal, most metalheads — whether they want to admit it or not — have a weak spot for fantasy. For an amateur Tolkien scholar such as your’s truly, Summoning‘s 1999 album Stronghold is about as “Exhibit A” as it comes in showing how nerdy metal can be and get away with it. 

As a teenager who was dipping his toes into black metal through the melodic route and who became obsessed with the works of Tolkien, Summoning was about as cool as it got: A symphonic, epic black metal-esque band dedicated to exploring the worlds of Middle-Earth? SIGN. ME. UP. What sticks out about Stronghold — arguably the band’s finest hour at best, and at worst, what brought to maturity the elements from previous works — is that it’s barely metal, let alone black metal. Yet in its dated synth sounds and cold drum programming lies a sunny serenity that whisks listeners away to the rolling hills of Rohan, the majestic towers of Gondor, and the fragile beauty of Rivendell. If you’ve always viewed music as a vehicle of escape from reality, Stronghold is as effective as they come.

Summoning’s triumphant, calculated mid-tempo march covers a lot of ground on Stronghold, from the pounding rhythms of “The Rotting Horse on the Deadly Ground” to the meditative glow of “Long Lost to Where No Pathway Goes.” Driven less by traditional riffs and more by heavily layered orchestrations, it foregoes aggression in favor of regality, a formula that Summoning have gone on to stretch over successive releases.

If you’re feeling like you want to march through the woods behind your house with a replica Narsil, Stronghold will be your thing. Don’t be shy. We’ve all done it.

– Dustin