Though fully entrenched in what I perceive as the most parodic trappings of black metal (ie - goofy corpsepaint and liner note photos), Abigor demonstrated on Verwüstung/Invoke the Dark Age exactly what a good solid black metal is all about. From start to finish, the overall atmosphere and feel of the album is there: dark, contemplative, angry and terrifying. Abigor's ability to smartly write sharp lead guitar lines as well as vary up tempos and musical attacks are among the reasons this is a good album. Some might gripe about the production being a tiny bit tinny, but that's hardly a viable issue. The album has a feeling of progression throughout, as if the music is taking you somewhere. If you are new to the Abigor world, this is possibly the best album to start with your explorations. While it may not be as definitive as other albums of the genre, it is Abigor's strongest that I've heard.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 03/1999

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Abigor is considered by some to be a supreme black metal outfit but I've never quite have been able to fully find a piece of defining work that would cause me to don the Abigor baseball cap outfit. Orkblut - The Retaliation is a short piece of work that comes across as one song over the eleven tracks on the CD and ends in less than half an hour. All the Abi-elements are here: thin, reedy guitars, echoing vocals, keyboard and acoustic guitar interludes, and an all around general hiss in the background, suggesting they might not have found the best studio in Austria to record Orkblut. But what can ya do? The biggest issue I have with Abigor is not that the production is bad, but that their music isn't quite compelling enough to demand many listens. I don't go through my work day thinking ahead to the second I can race home to put Abigor on the stereo. Rather, Abigor comes across as something where I can't think of anything else to listen to, so I shrug and put it on. Now that I've typed that sentence, I sense Abigor fanatics worldwide bristling in my general direction. Rest assured I respect the musicianship in Abigor and it's very apparent this will appeal to the black metal fanatic. I'm just going to dig up my Summoning CDs, if that's all right with you.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 11/1999

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Abigor is a love-it or hate-it proposition when it comes to black metal. Their style is easily identifiable as uniquely their own and is a very complex brew of hyperspeed trebly guitar lines, echoing and blasting percussion and rasped vocals phoned in directly from the pits of hell. And frankly, it's something you either will fully enjoy or constantly stand on the outside looking in, trying to decipher precisely what it is those in the know have discovered in Abigor's music. Unfortunately, I have always stood on the outside when it comes to Abigor. The high pitched, thin edged quality to their music has the effect of alienating me while listening to the disc, although I can recognize the excellence of their talents. I can respect what the band is attempting throughout. Their sound can be described as echoing and expansive, with a barrage of searing electric and acoustic guitar interludes with very occasional keyboard backdrops. The vocals are raspy and a bit strangled, with that same echoing effect that prevails throughout the record. You can sense a bit of a majestic feel to the music as well.

Nachthymnen is certainly one of the strongest Abigor releases but as with pretty much everything of theirs I've heard, I can't quite allow myself to fully get into it. This album is of highest recommendation for Abigor fans but those who haven't experienced them yet may want to investigate via some samples before actually purchasing their music.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 02/2001

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Essentially a pairing of a couple EPs, this badly produced piece of work demonstrates the two traits of Abigor. 1) They like to occasionally include some beautiful and compelling elements into the cacophony, such as the outro to "Spektrale Schattenlichter" or the subtle guitar lines in "Mirages for the Eyes of the Blind. 2) While going about their evil business of warp speed hyperblast black metal, they forget to add a certain "something" that would take this from being run-of-the-mill to extraordinary. Aside from the thin production that basically robs a lot of their strength, Abigor falls prey to the inherent genericness that marks much of the genre. Much of what you hear on this CD isn't too wildly different from any other group of corpsepainted kids with blasphemous lyrics to match. While it may not be truly bad in any sense of the word, it is certainly nothing that sparks my interest enough to play it more than rarely.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 11/1998

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Everybody, please give Abigor a round of applause for selecting an Albrecht Dürer engraving to adorn the cover of their newest, Channeling the Quintessence of Satan. If my memory serves me, Abigor used a Dürer (or analogous artist) once before, in a past album; his prints can be far more viscerally intimidating than the typical photographs of circus clowns and mimes gone rotten. It's about time black metal fiends discovered his works.

But does good artistic taste alone justify a worthy purchase? Don't be silly. Fortunately, I think black metallers' voracious musical appetites will be satiated with this release. Unfortunately, no one else's will. There is nothing inherently wrong with this release, mind you, but considering the overwhelmingly favorable reputation that Abigor hold in the black metal community, something seems lacking.

Channeling begins with an ambient intro that sounds like a world in the midst of nuclear winter. Abruptly, a dense, richly polyphonic guitar texture interrupts the eerily tranquil mood, with completely unintelligible vocals buried deep in the cacophony. To my surprise, the music is very melodic, though the melodies are disguised by chromaticism and heavy layering of multiple guitars (Peter says three). The music reaches high pitches and is played at a very fast tempo, with the third guitar meandering through the songs like an apparition. These same sentences aptly describe tracks one through seven, save a Celtic Frost chug that occurs now and then.

Track eight, however, is an utterly horrendous throwaway that sounds nothing like the others; the production here is different and much, much worse. Entitled "Pandora's Miasmic Breath," Roman postulates that Abigor are trying to portray miasma, or swamp vapor, sonically with this piece of refuse. Possible, though there's no way of knowing unless we asked Abigor ourselves, which is perhaps what we should have done in the interview.

Again, Channeling the Quintessence of Satan is worth picking up if you worship this style of metal, though I advise newcomers to begin the Abigor experience with the superior Nachthymnen instead.

Review by Jeffrey Shyu

Review date: 01/2000

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