Summoning is:
Silenius - Keyboards, Programming
Protector - Keyboards, Programming
(These are the only instruments on the release).
This Mini CD was released by Summoning in 2003 and was sort of collection of old forgotten songs (hence the Lost Tales). It included a old Dol Guldur era song and a song from Silenius' disbanded ritual band. The cd was intended for people familiar with Summoning to give them something to listen to in the 5 year wait between full length releases. This MCD consist of two long songs, 9+ minutes and 7+ minutes.
1. Arcenstone
The first song is very, very ambient. It is also one of the best songs ever to be found on an EP that a band releases that really is purely there for filler between albums. Yet the music on here can be enjoyed at anytime, and regardless if you like Summoning or even metal. This cd has no metal elements whatsoever, no vocals, guitars, or bombastic drums. Yet this song, that only features droning strings, some timpani/low toms, a few violin/string melodies, and while it very long, if you can just imagine not being in front of your computer, or in year room, while listening to this it can be a great experience. The song can also be found on the 4 track demo that Silenius released as track 4. It does not contain any samples in that version and has a slightly smaller intro. And talking about samples, the samples for the song are perfect. If the music doesn't make the song feel like a journey, then the samples will.
5/5
2. Saruman
The old Dol Guldur song (they seem to have made a ***load of songs in that time) is a little more heavy as it has the typical tom rhythms and sounds but no snare which makes it like a soundtrack song. The mixing is not super clear (this is the tape version of the recording, neither song has been mastered for this cd). Yet the song is crippled by what makes the first song so good. This song needs vocals and guitar. It is a bit boring otherwise, and actually sounds somewhat silly. It is still good, it has lots of good melodies and a very cool break and many good samples about Saruman/lotr, but I think if one of them would have done vocals for this song (forget the guitars...) it would be just that much better.
3/5
This little MCD gets a 3.5/5
Pro
-Ambient
-Good composing
-Great samples
Cons
-Sometimes no guitars and vocals hurts the song (2nd track)
