Just a few days ago, Summoner guitarist A.J. Peters waxed nostalgic ahead of a gig supporting Torche in Providence, RI:
“We were Riff Cannon the last time we played with these dudes…”
I’ll take that as permission to take my own little trip down memory lane…
Riff Cannon will always hold a special place in my heart – I fondly remember first meeting the guys circa 2008 at a gig we played together at The Cantab’s Club Bohemia with Portland, OR’s Purple Rhinestone Eagle. We were greeted by a sign on the door that read something like, “Excessive volume will not be tolerated,” and we laughed about it collectively. From that point on, going to hear their bombastic and driving twin guitar sorcery in basements and bars around town was a highlight of my first years living here in Boston.
Nearly a decade after our first encounter, the band has released their third LP as Summoner – and fourth overall – entitled Beyond the Realm of Light on Magnetic Eye Records in May of this year. If you’re late to the party, now is as good a time as ever to take the plunge, as this record finds Summoner sounding better than ever on every front – songwriting, performance and production. Over the course of their discography, Summoner have honed a signature sound which draws heavily from the classic heavy metal of the 70s and early 80s as well as more modern heavy music pioneered by the likes of Neurosis and Sleep, with lyrical themes tending towards sci-fi and fantasy. On Beyond the Realm of Light, the band manages to further hone that sound with some of their catchiest songs to date – it’s gluttonous cauldron of hooks boiling over with savory guitar riffs and solos courtesy of Peters and fellow axeman Joe Richner. Bassist / vocalist Chris Johnson delivers some of his finest vocal performances to date, and along with drummer Scott Smith forms a thunderous rhythm section that propels each song beyond the realm of light and into oblivion.
Foremost among the elements that been dialed up a notch are the tempos – from opener “New Sun” to closer “Into Oblivion,” every cut is a total ripper, complimented by fact that the NWBHM strain that’s always been present in Summoner’s music is front and center on songs like “The Huntress,” “Skies of the Unknown,” and “New Sun.” The exception to the rule is the title track – a beautifully expansive, crushing dirge that serves as the album’s centerpiece. Smith’s drumming seems to take a cue from John Bonham’s approach to classic Zep songs like “When the Levee Breaks” and “Kashmir” – stripped-down to its fundamental elements, each hit delivered with brute force and metronomic precision, providing an ominous undercurrent like the slow but inevitably all-consuming creep of molten lava. Shimmering guitars soar overhead like an ashen sky blotting out the sun, as Johnson wails away with every ounce of his being as if channeling the dying gasp of every living thing swallowed up in a fiery, creeping death.
Keeping to tradition, Beyond was self-produced by the band and co-engineered by Peters and Johnson, this time around opting for a crisper, more polished sound than on previous efforts, but without sacrificing any of grit and sonic openness that’s always been central to their sound. Augmenting the records already rich sound are moments featuring piano, organ and cello, creating a lush sonic tapestry to match the beauty grandeur of the ominous landscape that graces the album’s cover.
It’s been an eventful year for the Summoner boys – a new album, and appearance at Psycho Las Vegas, gigs with Mutoid Man and Torche – and this Thursday at ONCE Somerville (a Hassle chosen show) they’ll being joining Birnam Wood and King Buffalo in support of Elder, who also released a stellar album this year, and coincidentally also played that Torche gig at Great Scott in 2010 for – wait for it – SEVEN DOLLARS. Talk about waxing nostalgic.
May the circle be unbroken.
