Dol Guldur

about this album

Dol Guldur is the third studio album by the Austrian black metal band Summoning. It was released in 1997, through Napalm Records. All lyrics are written by P. K. of the black metal band Abigor apart from those by J. R. R. Tolkien, who is even credited in the album booklet. The final track, "Over Old Hills", is based on the song "Trapped and Scared" from Protector's solo project, Ice Ages' debut album "Strike the Ground". According to information on Summoning’s homepage, the album is to this day the band’s best-selling release (as of September 2010). The songs that were written for Dol Guldur but not released on the album were issued in 1997 together with the song Habbanan Beneath the Stars on the mini-CD Nightshade Forests. According to Summoning’s statements on their homepage, Dol Guldur and Nightshade Forests are closely connected and should therefore be regarded as a single CD. On Dol Guldur, Summoning continued the development already begun on the predecessor album Minas Morgul, moving away from the original, strongly black-metal-influenced style of the band’s early years toward a style shaped by atmospheric, epic elements. As a result, the guitar riffs are often used merely as accompaniment, while the melody is carried by the keyboard. On the keyboard, a wide variety of instruments are simulated, up to and including an entire symphony orchestra, among them instruments atypical for black metal such as a carillon or a didgeridoo. As was customary for Summoning after th

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