Released as a 4 glossy panel Digipak with shiny black tray, includes an 8 page booklet with printed lyrics and credits.
I have been wanting to review Abigor for at least over a year now. However, similar to Lord Belial and a couple of other bands, it's been kind of hard trying to find the exact words to describe them and their work. Just recently, however, I've finally gotten the courage to tackle this band, and I figured I'd tackle their best album in my opinion, which is their 1995 album "Nachthymnen (from the Twilight Kingdom)".
One thing that makes Abigor stand out from most other Austrian black metal bands is their instruments, which I would describe as what Emperor would sound like if they were a more standard black metal band, and this is especially the case with this album. The opening track "Unleashed Axe-Age" starts off with a windy synth that brings in a calming, yet dark atmosphere. Once the other instruments kick in, however, is where things start to get good. The guitars are very raw in sound, but their composition is slightly melodic, so it doesn't sound too harsh. The drumming is also powerful, as not only do the blastbeats lead in the chaotic riffs, but its slower beat patterns do offer some calmer parts to the craziness. The bass work, however, can get a bit sloppy at times, though those moments are short and don't affect the track too much. Overall, the atmosphere is chaotic, but more melodic and Emperor-sounding, which can be said to pretty much every other track on this album. The excessive use of this melodic style might be repetitive on paper, but tracks like "Scars in the Landscape of God", "As Astral Images Darken Reality", and "The Dark Kiss" prove this wrong, as they offer some slight different variations of the formula that make them stand out. While the bass work is a bit weak, every other instrument is played at their strongest, and they provide plenty of powerful instrumentals.
The vocals are also just as strong. Michael "Silenius" Gregor, who's also in Summoning, does the vocals here, and they're very powerful. Much like his work in Summoning, Silenius's vocals consist of agonized shrieks that give off a tormented personality. While some argue that these vocals don't fit well with the more melodic approach of the album, I'd argue otherwise. A good example of this is in the track "I Face the Eternal Winter", which is a bit darker in its atmosphere. Silenius's vocals are strong here, as his shrieking not only flows well with the riffs, but his deeper shrieks do add in a new layer of some sadness in the story about a lonely winter. The painful shrieks of Silenius do fit in the more melancholy instrumentals well, and Elisabeth Toriser's backing vocals in the final track would also add a more melodic edge in the vocal performance.
Even the lyrics are great. The lyrics in Abigor albums are usually great, but here, they're exceptionally amazing. Take the track "Reborn Through the Gates of Three Moons" for example, where this verse quotes:
And on the other side of the blackness
An endless sea of greyness extends...
A sea of formless emptiness
Yet the misery and the pain remain
The lyrics written on MA are mixed in German and English, but for the English translation, we hear a verse about the blackness being dark and empty. The tone used to describe this side is very depressing, but also poetic in an unique way, making the blackness sound vast and grand. Not only that, but the lyrics would be fitting to the instruments and vocals. The more melodic-orientated riffs and acoustic guitar does paint a more beautiful picture in these events, and the shrieks of Silenius make the darker portions of the story even more darker. The songwriting on this album is really strong, and has some of the best storytelling in Abigor's discography.
Abigor has had plenty of fantastic albums overall, but there is one album that I still keep coming back to to this day, and Nachthymnen is that album. It's more melodic style that worships Emperor to a degree is done magnificently, and the pure terror of the vocals and the beauty of the lyrical descriptions are just as great. If you want to hear some black metal that is melodic, dark, and beautiful, then you cannot go wrong with Nachthymnen.
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=vl_LTFVnwMo
