Abigor

Ash Nazg (Abigor, 1993)
Outside of the clumsiness of its musicianship and the underconfident hesitation these musicians have in implementing some of the grander ideas, this demo provides a workable view of the best of Abigor. It is composed of basic rhythm riffs like those of Belial alternating with spidery melodic rhythm leads that define the quintessential Abigor sound; like first-album Absu, its melodic death metal styled riffing carries songs into choruses. Song structures are simpler than later Abigor but these have a refreshing ingenuity to them where later works seem as obvious as undercover cops at a costume party. Basic as these are, they reveal what others saw in this band from the beginning, which was an alternative to the slash-and-tear rhythm riffing of the three-chord morons who followed black metal as any pack of mediocre imitators follow a leader, with comedic impersonation and total failure to grasp concept or ideal. However, Abigor shows no inclination to go beyond that triumph, as their songs are ultimately somewhat directionless, as the simpler works on this album reveal; they do best when carrying a three-riff song point-to-point so that its two major themes resolve into a linear extension of its basic meme. Had they focused on content development and songwriting, instead of furthering their aesthetic, they might have gone farther in this genre that unlike rock defines itself by the poetry of change and not the beauty of stasis, even if that stasis is achieved through conflict so constant that its tension approaches uniformity before dropping with a whimper and not a bang into the kind of entropy only an experienced artist can recognize.

Nachthymnen (From the Twilight Kingdom) (Napalm Records, 1995)
Representing what is most likely the artistic peak of Abigor, this album both includes songwriting that goes from one point to another without dropping into a cycle of divergent ideas, and some of the most beautiful melodic lines crafted by these Austrians. It is "simpler" in that there are fewer riffs of fewer notes and often these riffs resemble the basics of black metal (think Belial) when used in an interstitial capacity, but it is more complex than most Abigor releases because each song follows a melodic line and therefore all its riffs must fit together into not only a coherent whole but a language for contextualizing that melodic line as a meaningful communication. There is still a tendency to fall into abstruse songwriting that figures if a following riff differs from its predecessor, it can stand in as an opposite theme, and be bounced off a third and fourth riff until a roundrobin sense of cycling between ideas returns us to ground we thankfully accept as some sense of order -- the first riff. However, this tendency is minimized, and song structures expand as a result to the point where many songs on this CD feature fully developed "movements" of conflicting motives stacked in a way to reveal something missing from the initial theme that opens the song. It is lower-tech than the classics of Nordic black metal, in that the lengthy melodies of Enslaved or Immortal are missing, as is the gradual descent into mood that qualified Burzum; this more accurately resembles the work of Finnish bands in that the riffs which define each song are so iconographic they capture the shape from a distance of what these songs are designed to impress upon us. Generally, three note extensions and some form of rising or falling geometric pattern define such themes, and joining riffs are often one and two-note rhythmic patterns. Some of the beauty of countrymates Summoning can be found, but this album lacks the patience that makes black metal great; it is in too much of a hurry to all out blast, or to drop in sung interludes like the ludicrous antechamber to "Scars in the Landscape of God." There's not much to argue with as far as the canon of black metal techniques and imagery goes, but what keeps this out of the first-tier of black metal bands is that there's not much to argue for, either. Like later Mayhem, it seems an attempt to discover what made a movement significant from outside, when what gave it the strength to do what it did was entirely inside -- if there is soul to metal music, that is it, and too much of that is missing from this energetic but aimless release.

Apokalypse (Napalm Records, 1997)
Black metal does best when it remembers that at best, it's a step away from Discharge-style sheeting punk hardcore riffage; true, this has been infused with the intricate phrasing of neoclassical heavy metal, and the interlocking thematic development through riff conflict of death metal, but when in doubt it is often better to choose a direct and honest simple riff than to embellish with musically-valid decoration that does not serve the artistic objectives of song (and all great artists hope to communicate something through their songs, although to admit that in interviews is to expose them to more scathing criticism once the usually subversive messages are revealed). Much like the second generation of albums from the classic Nordic bands, this CD succeeds by keeping a constant tempo and cycling through a few bittersweet declining minor-key melodies balanced against robust and stalwart whole tone or chromatic riffs -- finished off with melodic trills and fills and periodic interludes which break down through arpeggiated descents and heart-stopping ascending interval skips. Where most of the effort goes here is the vocals, a quarrelling series of whispers and chants and hisses and a Krieg-like diaphragmic shout; this is quite creative, and adds some atmosphere. However, what defines this album is its primary strength which is basic fast black metal with melodic embellishment; its patterns are basic and time-tested, and its effect simple and invariant. Its success also defines its limits as being melodic, simple, one-concept black metal, and this is where it is best appreciated: as a corollary to grindcore in the black metal style. It is highly repetitive, gratifyingly violent, and exemplifies the black metal style at this time period in both strength and failings.

Supreme Immortal Art (Napalm Records, 1998)
Like The Abyss, Abigor represented a tail-end movement of the first wave of black metal bands that stood evenly between the arch majestic poetry of Norwegian black metal and the thunderous over-the-top theatre of riotous absurdist extremes that bands like Cradle of Filth made home with their brand of Iron Maiden-derived heavy metal. Abigor is less heavy metal than Cradle of Filth, and less minimalistic than The Abyss, but is nonetheless designed without the grace of the original Nordic black metal; it is like a carnival seen from a merry go round, where different sections of the show flash by as one rotates, each screaming at top volume in its own way for attention. Lightbulbs flicker, balloons pop, clowns dance... in Abigor, keyboards bang out a melancholic version of Billy Joel solos while guitars cycle through riffs that although arrayed linearly do not flow well into one another and even more, represent no consistent style or vision; palm-muted speed metal riffs clash with lead-picked black metal riffing, followed by a heavy metal riff repeated at two points in the diatonic scale. Like Satyricon, it has all the elements of successful black metal, but they are like an alphabet soup of techniques: no message emerges and, while the listener can be distracted by the excellence of individual riffs or the comical interplay of keyboards and guttural whispers and delicately arpeggiated string plucking, the clarity that defined black metal is replaced by a kind of overwhelmed confusion that captures the aesthetic (surface; sense; style; sound) of black metal without the way of writing music, and consequently of seeing the world, that made it great. There are enough interruptions to keep the listener confused as to overall direction, but when this album is contemplated after its conclusion no clear or unclear picture emerges, only a collection of photos related only by time and the mixed heritage of black metal as a descendant of both blockhead hard rock and classical music. For those who desire the black metal sound, this band is as proficient as any; for those who desire the black metal experience, this carnival of disconnected dramatic distractions is the wrong path to take.

In Memory (Napalm, 2000)
Dressed up covers of two foundational bands whose styles appear sparse given the faster consciousness of music in the musicians of Abigor and consequently how they approach they rhythms they play, as placed here in the roaring assault of a black metal band are curiosities; while some parts are fudged, the whole is executed faithfully with necessary details intact, yet newer vocals and some textural change in guitar. Since these are extraneous in real content, the focus of this EP is the majestic melodic metal in the three originals. These are canopic scalar unravellings and sinuous melodic riffing, with a hook embedded softly throughout each that permits return to primary themes for intensity building. If any major criticism could be levelled, it is that these bands develop their themes too early and thus must transfer often through chaotic means to their bulk in reiteration of emotive motifs. This is halfway between Ancient and Arcturus, with black metal searing its way throughout in varying degrees, corresponding to various degrees of gothic influence, but as a whole the desire of these musicians tends toward the gothic area of atmospheric rock/black metal hybrid. These songs have hook and Tae Bo motivation, so they should be winners in the open market but their similarity to black metal is waning. The older material is closer to an ideal but still embodies the frenetic desire for atmosphere and a drama of slightly bittersweet consonant melodies that is vomitous in its essential sentiment.