Abigor
Apokalypse
[Napalm]
Abigor are beginning to shit me a little. From the word go, it
was obvious Abigor were a lot more than your run-of-the-mill black metal
band. Their debut, "Verwustung: Invoke The Dark Age" was a monumental
slab of blackly mayhem (no puns intended), drawing comparisons to the likes
to Emperor & Immortal. Their 2nd release was an extension of the first
album, with a bit of diversity beginning to show, their 3rd was a *little*
different, but still too similar to call it a "progression".
"Opus IV" - essentially 2 EPs slapped onto one CD was a derogatory step,
(in my eyes anyway), but was still qualified as great black metal.
"Apokalypse" could very well have been the EP which wasn't good enough to make it on to the "Opus IV" disc. Or maybe it was because it would've been too much value for money if it was included with the other 2 EPs. Cynical, I concede, but who knows... All I know is, Abigor seem to spit out an album (seemingly) every 6 months.
From the opener, "Celestial", its evident that not much has changed since "Opus IV", perhaps a little toward the debut disc. The guitars are suffocated by the volume of the drums, and as a result, the EP sounds like (upon initial listen anyway) 4 songs repeated, ("Celestial", "Verwustung", "Ein Hauch Von Kalte" (which actually sounds more like Zyklon-B than Abigor), and "Tu Es Diaboli Juna") and two "different" songs, namely "Hyperwelt", which sounds akin to the material from the EP "Orkblut: The Retaliation", and "Ubique Daemon" which is my favourite song on the disc. It reminds me of Arcturus in tempo, (sans keyboards and monk vox), but much more aggressive, of course. The latter half of the song clicks into overdrive, and its more of "usual" Abigor, and then a weirdo little outro to boot.
The layout is sparse as hell (especially when compared to Abigor's other efforts), the cover is generic as hell (a pentagram with a goats skull superimposed on it, Olde-English.TFF employed as logo), everything is in white on black, and they're wearing corpse paint (and various cutting implements again.) I guess they're trying to tell us something.
As much as I'd love to like this CD, I can't. I'm sorry, but Abigor have really got my goat, so to speak. Remember when EP's were a means of filling the gap between albums? Abigor should be spending more time on arrangement, instead of putting out this (now generic) parody of themselves.
RATING : 6/10
(probably more if it was another band, but on principle, 6/10)
© 1998 brett
"Apokalypse" could very well have been the EP which wasn't good enough to make it on to the "Opus IV" disc. Or maybe it was because it would've been too much value for money if it was included with the other 2 EPs. Cynical, I concede, but who knows... All I know is, Abigor seem to spit out an album (seemingly) every 6 months.
From the opener, "Celestial", its evident that not much has changed since "Opus IV", perhaps a little toward the debut disc. The guitars are suffocated by the volume of the drums, and as a result, the EP sounds like (upon initial listen anyway) 4 songs repeated, ("Celestial", "Verwustung", "Ein Hauch Von Kalte" (which actually sounds more like Zyklon-B than Abigor), and "Tu Es Diaboli Juna") and two "different" songs, namely "Hyperwelt", which sounds akin to the material from the EP "Orkblut: The Retaliation", and "Ubique Daemon" which is my favourite song on the disc. It reminds me of Arcturus in tempo, (sans keyboards and monk vox), but much more aggressive, of course. The latter half of the song clicks into overdrive, and its more of "usual" Abigor, and then a weirdo little outro to boot.
The layout is sparse as hell (especially when compared to Abigor's other efforts), the cover is generic as hell (a pentagram with a goats skull superimposed on it, Olde-English.TFF employed as logo), everything is in white on black, and they're wearing corpse paint (and various cutting implements again.) I guess they're trying to tell us something.
As much as I'd love to like this CD, I can't. I'm sorry, but Abigor have really got my goat, so to speak. Remember when EP's were a means of filling the gap between albums? Abigor should be spending more time on arrangement, instead of putting out this (now generic) parody of themselves.
RATING : 6/10
(probably more if it was another band, but on principle, 6/10)
© 1998 brett