Under the Reviled Throne | Summoning the Lich | Concept Explained
Here is my interpretation of the story behind Summoning the Lich’s 2024 album, Under the Reviled Throne.
** What follows is my personal interpretation of the epic fantasy concept. I base my explanations on the lyrics as well as band interviews and fan theories.
Track 1) “Return to the Soil”
The Lich has conquered all of Rodor –every King and army has fallen. The Lich and the “Sin” (the unholy army of otherworldly beings of power led by the Lich) have traveled far and spread desolation in their wake. Yet he knows the human race will once again rise up and so he seeks to extinguish every last one in what will be known as “The Age of Chaos.”
Having decimated the lands of Rodor to the west, the Lich and the Sin travel east through the desert wastes to the land of Bastell. Bastell is a coastal kingdom known for building ships. The people of Bastell feel safe from threat as they are surrounded by a large wall all along their coast.
On his way to conquer Bastell, the Lich runs into the coven of witches from “Hyms (of Witches of the West)” in the previous album. The Lich offers the witches the chance to smite the humans by joining him and the witches accept.
Track 2) “Reviled Crystal Wielders”
This song is about the hierarchy of beings among the Lich’s army AKA the Sin. There are:
The Chaos—the foot soldiers of the Lich’s Sin. These are his army of ghouls. They wear the brands of the Lich on their chests and grow more evil and undead the more souls they consume. They are the lowest on the totem pole.
Then there are the Witches and other magickal beings of the Sin—they are kind of like free agents. They follow the Lich because they are united in purpose. They were all recruited from various places, and each have unique powers that they use to kill humans with. They don’t necessarily lead any part of the army, but they can certainly stand on their own and wreak havoc.
Then there are the Reviled: They are akin to the Lich’s generals. There are six “Keepers of the Stone” who wield magicked crystals that grant them immense power to command the Chaos and spread destruction:
1. Evee and her trees of death
2. Algaliarect—Keeper of the gate—AKA The Dragon Lord of Suffering (“The Gatekeeper”)
3. Elias—the Serpent mage
4. Twin demon #1
5. Twin demon #2
6. The Ghost
Track 3) “THE FOREST FEASTS”
Flash backward in time. The beginning of this track explains why the druids disbanded after the war where they banished the chaos into the void. The druids were then betrayed: King of Rodor killed the leader of the druids with the sword the druids crated to save the humans.
After the betrayal, we follow one druid who flees Rodor and wanders the eastern lands for centuries, still believing humanity can be redeemed. He eventually feels a desire to obtain the magick of the forest of Taane floating out at sea, so he ventures there and finds a forest of trees that eat people. The roots of the trees grab him and pull him down into the heart of Taane.
There he finds the spark of power that created the world of Arrias (the planet in which this story takes place), left there by the Bog. The Bog—celestial beings that created the universe and tasked the druids with leading humankind.
The Druid speaks with Taane (Taane being the essence of the Bog left buried within the soul of the forest). Taane asks the druid to merge their powers. If they do, Taane will be able to sustain life without needing to eat so many people. Instead, they could use their combined power to grant the souls the forest has consumed with magickal powers. The druid decides to merge with the spark of life inside Taane and together they become one.
Track 4) “My Horrors Unending”
The people of Bastell call to arms to defend their kingdom against the dreaded Lich and his army of monsters. The Bastell army is confident in the protection of their fortress for their walls have not been broken in centuries. But they are not prepared for the Lich and his Sin.
The people of Bastell quickly retreat from the horrors of the Lich’s atrocities. The POV character—a messenger from the front lines—is fleeing to warn his people of the Sin and their power when he his caught by a curse that takes over his senses and turns him into a pawn to perform the Lich’s bidding.
Track 5) “Bastell Dirge”
Instrumental track where Bastell falls to the Lich and his Sin.
Track 6) The Carrion Fleet
The people of Bastell are all but defeated. The Sin pick off the survivors, torturing and drinking their blood while the few who could made for the fleet of ships and set them on fire in the hope that would keep the Lich contained within the city. Though of course that did not stop the Lich. He raises his magick and with a simple command, he brings all the dead back to life to repair the fleet with their own flesh. And the undead set sail.
Track 7) “Arrias Groans”
The spark of life that is Taane—the remnants of the Bog mentioned in track 3—senses the despair of the souls on Arrias.
Meanwhile, the Lich and his army set sail on these ships of flesh and embark on spreading more chaos and misery. However, his actions have woken Taane. Using the new power granted through the fusion with the druid, the forest picks up its roots and crawls out to sea to go to war with the Lich.
Track 8) “Will to Survive”
An eon ago, when the essence of The Bog, i.e. Taane, merged with the druid, I think this woke up the forest which now becomes whole and conscious. Taane now calls to arms all who live above their roots. Taane sacrifices the weakest of their followers to fuel the magick the forest needs to pick up roots and set off to defeat the Lich on the high seas.
Meanwhile a single ship was able to escape the massacre of Bastell. It fled to the south where it warned the Believers of the Bog of the coming of the Lich. Together, the survivors of Bastell, the Believers to the south team up in what is called the Alliance of Amelung—united to defeat the Lich. While Taane crawls through the water to declare war on the Lich.
Track 9) “Potion Seller”
This is another flashback to centuries earlier at the end of the war where the druids helped lock the chaos away and save the humans—only to be betrayed by the Kingdom of Rodor. After the betrayal, the druids left alive scatter back to their homelands.
This track tells of one female druid who wanders the land filled with rage at the betrayal of her order by the very people they just saved from desolation.
And of course, During these trying times, when misery abounds, there are those who seek to capitalize on the fear and desperation.
We learn of a potion maker who is selling bottled brew to help people forget their miseries. The female druid accepts the potion and falls into the bliss of oblivion. While she’s in this state, she lets slip a few druid secrets about magick, science, alchemy, and about the Bog which eventually lead to her demise… more on that in a moment.
Track 10) “The Void Gate”
This is again a flash backward in time to just after the humans betrayed the druids. The druids were created by the Bog to help guide humankind. However, after the betrayal at the end of the war, the druids are questioning why they even helped in the first place.
This track tells of one druid who decides he wants to overthrow the humans. He seeks to capture the power of the void they just locked away behind the veil. He decides to create a gate into the void to steal its power. So, he travels to a series of islands where he tricks the people there into helping him build this “Infernal Arch.”
Finally, after much time, he calls all his magick and opens the gate. The horrors of the void suck him in and devour his soul. As he dies, with his final breath, he manages to seal the gate so that the void stays locked away.
Track 11) “Praise to the Bog”
Going back to the female druid who spilled her secrets while under the influence of the potion, we learn that she was supposed to keep secrets about the Bog hidden from the humans.
Yet, after her death her scribes founded a religion formed around worshiping the Bog. But of course, as with most religions the truth gets twisted along the way. This sect was founded on the idea the Bog is God since they know the Bog is responsible for creating all life on Arrias. Overtime, the Bog worshipers began performing rituals and brutal child sacrifices of non-believers in an effort to gain the Bog’s favor.
And so, a great Divide between believers and non-believers or “Science vs sacrifice” causes hundreds of years of war and suffering between the two nations.
Bad blood runs thick. The two sides must work together to defeat the Lich and his army. But will the Alliance of Amelung withstand centuries of hatred and distrust?
Will the people of Arrias band together to defeat their common foe? Or will they fall and leave nothing standing in the way of the Lich for world domination.