Abigor – Demos 1993 – 1994 [Compilation]

Collected demos from an important band in the genre rise from beyond like a revenant with this collection: ‘Demos 1993 – 1994’. Many aspects of this work from the atmosphere, the melodicism of the riffs, the songwriting, to the performances of the musicians – this is high level stuff and even from the demos stage it was and is still very apparent this band is something special.

The vocals on the first section, the music consisting of the ‘Lux Devicta Est’ demo are gobliny and sound very raw. The higher pitched parts are really fucked up and loud which I enjoyed, everything gets blown out. This band has more of a sense of heaviness and brutality than many of their peers somewhat akin to a band like Bethlehem for example in the sense that they have always been very much informed by Death Metal and inspired by it without being anything other than a Black Metal band first and foremost (or, in Bethlehem’s case, a “Dark” Metal band first).

Various changes happen pretty quickly – the band will slow down and play some medieval sounding passages with an acoustic guitar after some Doom riffs and then come at you with a “jogging a brisk pace” type tremolo stuff like the soundtrack to getting pursued by a slower, wounded vampire. It’s full of changes and is stimulating to consume partly because of how much the songs shift and grow into different directions. The interludes are eerie and serve well to initiate the atmospheric entrance of the subsequent song. Acoustic passages are generally quick before the next proper riff falls on you. This is definitely a “Rock and Roll” – type Black Metal band and one of the best to do it. This material is as crucial as the LPs and alot of people sleep on this stuff, don’t be one of the those Abigor fans. If you’re a fan of the bands’ full length releases already and aren’t familiar – with these demos being collected the time has come, I’ve seen enough people hating on the demos on Metal Archives (hahaha) just ignore those posers, this is some real shit.

Some of the vocals by Rune throughout sound either like a frog making a bird sound or else a bird making a frog sound, or lonesome barking. There’s really epic sounding riffs and sections here, like nearly Power Metal levels of epic fantasy on tracks like ‘Abysmal Scorn’ or ‘Other Truth’, I feel like those sections are the direct reversal of ‘light sounding fantasy music’ like most Power Metal and is instead ‘dark side fantasy music’. Which reminds me of Summoning but even darker, that Silenius worked on the final demo here ‘In Hate & Sin’ (at the same time at this era as he was in his earlier band Summoning).

The shrieking vox on the ‘Ash Nazg…’ version of ‘In Sin’ are nuts and I love the acoustic passage and chant additions whereas the second version sounds bigger and more heavy metal but is also half the length and chops the acoustic part, it sounds mega desperate and swirling. The vocals are dying calls from the depths. Expect the band to go back and forth between tempos such as on ‘My Soft Vision In Blood’ slower brooding menacing sections, there’s medieval touches in the percussion department, then imagine “riding over this haunted forest as a floating apparition” riff, over the distant booming of war drums.

Grotesque goblin vocals mix with low evil cavern grunts from a dark netherworld. The ‘In Hate and Sin’ demo final tracks have a great vocal production, they have the right amount of reverb and effect – they sound like they are utterances behind a locked door in the asylum basement.

The second version of ‘Eye to Eye At Armageddon’ with Silenius on vocals is so furious and riding, whereas the first is more creeping/croaking and has some loud synthesizer organ additions missing from the later version (which I can appreciate but are louder than the guitars by quite a bit and overpower the beautiful melody of the guitar), it also has a crazy voice crack which adds something to that interpretation of the song.

This Austrian band has consistently shown as how it’s done for decades at this point and thats what to expect here, but I’m sure you knew that already. Rest In Power to founding and crucial member P.K., a masterful musician whose legacy shall live on in his music for eternity.

This release collects: Lux Devicta Est (1993), Promo 2/94 (1994), Ash Nazg. . . (1993), Moonrise (1994) & In Hate & Sin (1994)

Note the demos are not presented in chronological order of release but rather the original order of the first three has been modified.