In the midst upon a stony height stands Dol Guldur, where long the hidden Enemy had his dwelling. We fear that now it is inhabited again, and with power sevenfold. A black cloud lies often over it of late. In this high place you may see the two powers that are opposed one to another; and ever they strive now in thought, but whereas the light perceives the very heart of the darkness, its own secret has not been discovered. Not yet.
SUMMONING released their masterpiece third album and follow-up to Minas Morgul on this day in 1997. Silenius, Protector and lyrics adapted from Tolkien and by P.K. (ABIGOR).
Dol Guldur album description from the official SUMMONING website:
For a long time this record was the best selling album of the band. Along with this release for the very first and last time promo posters of the cover have been made which are now very desired fan-articles for the die-hard collectors. The last song "Over Old Hills" is completely based on a song on the first "Ice Ages" CD (the dark, electronic project of Protector). Maybe this release is the darkest release of Summoning and is most connected to black metal beside "Lugburz". And this album is by far the most hypnotic and repetitative release of the band so far.
"Minas Morgul" and "Dol Guldur" have been recorded at "Hörnix Studio" in which also "Abigor" and "Die Verbannten Kinder Evas" have produced their first outputs.
Biography written by Silenius in 1996, from an interview by Psicoterror at that time:
Summoning was formed about three years ago by Protector and me. In that time we had a drummer called Trifixion whom we later kicked out of the band. Before Summoning, Protector was playing in a kind of "old fashioned" Thrash band that nearly got a record deal by Peaceville. But in that time the band broke up.
With Summoning we made two demos and some promotapes which we sent to some record companies. The demos sold quite well in a record shop in Vienna called "Why Not" (where the guys from Pungent Stench used to work just if you are interested). Sometime later I got in contact with T.T from Abigor who made an interview with for the local fanzine TAUB (which was my first interview by the way).
We talked a lot, and he told me that he wanted to form a band of his own, and gave me a tape with only some riffs included. That was the birth of Abigor. We kept the contact and later I replaced Rune (now singer of Amestigon) and did all vocals for the Abigor Releases (except the demos), now as a permanent Abigor member.
As we recorded the first Abigor Album for the young Napalm rec (label I got in touch with Max from Napalm). We handled a deal for Summoning and soon our debut Lugburz was released. After the recording we kicked out Trifixion, who turned out to be a commercial thinking asshole. We did not want to get a new drummer and so continued working with medieval and bombastic keyboard Percussion sounds. The result can be heard in Minas Morgul. This album is totally influenced by Tolkien's saga of the Middle Earth.
Our next release Dol Guldur will be released in the end of 1996 and will be a follow up to Minas Morgul, musical and lyricalwise. So wait and see.
Read the Psicoterror interview here.
Nightshade Forests was released a few months later, a 'mini' album consisting of material recorded during the same late-1996 period as Dol Guldur. You can also hear a demo of the song Saruman, from that time, on Lost Tales.
Like men held in a trance those lords of Demonland listened to the last echoes of the great sad chord where that music had breathed out its heart, as if the very heart of wrath were broken. But this was not the end.
- E. R. Eddison, from The Worm Ouroboros
Note about the release date: 19 January was the most consistently reported date, although 17 January is another possibility.