“The music of ABIGOR is a weapon and shall haunt all those who try to discover something beautiful in it!” This statement is found on the “Nachthymnen”-Album; taking them literally I’ll try to convert most of their outputs so far into- weapons. Here I go.
Verwüstung / Invoke the Dark Age: A spiked club
Orkblut – The Retaliation: Same as above
Nachthymnen: A sharp falchion
Opus IV: A rusty bastard sword
Apokalypse: A war hammer
Supreme Immortal Art: A pike
Channeling the Quintessence of Satan: A guillotine
Satanized: Absorbent cotton with chloroform
Fractal Possession: ?
Yes, finally it has arrived. A new ABIGOR- Album. I thought Reunions were only for members of aged norwegian Black-Metal Bands fearing to sink into oblivion, and I am glad I was wrong there. You can’t speak of austrian BM without mentioning ABIGOR, and with this album they have proven that once again. I do not think that it is necessary to waste words on ABIGOR’s biography here, for 1) it should be known to most of the metal scene anyway and 2) for the unlucky individuals that have missed this band so far may check the link to their site above.
First, let’s set things straight : This album has by far the best sound of all their albums and can easily withstand international competition as well. Everything is clearly audible; from the eerie guitars to the once again hammering drums to the new singer to the fitting embedded soundeffects. Speaking of soundeffects: there are plenty of them here, and sometimes it’s hard to tell if it is a real effect or some freaky guitar sound. Oh, and Thomas Tannenberger has returned to the drumchair of ABIGOR where he belongs. I don’t think one has to argue about the skills of Moritz Neuner, who has played drums on “Satanized”, but at least I had the feeling that his style did not fit ABIGOR too well. Now, hearing Thomas on this album there can be no doubt that his style is exactly what ABIGOR needs. This guy was and is simply one of the most groovy, tightest and most dynamic Black-Metal drummers, period. And the new singer A.R. takes ABIGORS vocals to a new level: Mostly snarling like MAYHEM’s Attila, this guy manages clear, spoken passages as well as growling and screaming.
The songs: A perfect symbiosis of the last two albums. The cold, precise riffing of “Channeling…”; combined with the strangeness of “Satanized”. A good balance of infernal blasts, technical parts, and slow, melodic parts. Although you can’t really compare ABIGOR to them, the created atmosphere is not unlike the last two MAYHEM- outputs, to give you at least a diffuse picture. I’d have a hard time which songs I would recommend to listen to, each one is unique but bears enough elements to recognize ABIGOR. My personal favourites are “Liberty Rises A Diagonal Flame” which brings up nostalgic memories of glorious “Nachthymnen”- days and “The Fire Syndrome” which, with an eerie, aggressive atmosphere, opens gates to demonplains somewhere beyond the stars and briefly, riffwise, mentions “Opus IV” (as does the start of “Injection Satan”).
ABIGOR have topped themselves here, easily achieving top grades in creativity and innovation. The songs are unbelievable complex and at the same time straight; there is a huge amount of breaks, effects and samples involved, but what sounds like too much works out fine in the end. So, what weapon is “Fractal Possession”? I can’t get the picture of a machine-armed with surgeon scalpells and killing with deadly precision- out of my head somehow…
-Tentakel P.
VITALS:
Release: 2007
Label: End All Life Productions
Avantgenre: Satan´s Technical Department
Duration: 52:44
Origin: Austria
Official site: http://www.infernalhorde.com/abigor/
Review online since: 26.08.2007 / 10:00:03
| TRACKLIST:
01. Warning |
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