Abigor / Channeling The Quintessence
1. Dawn of The Human Dust
2. Pandemonic Rebelation
3. Equilibrium Pass By
4. Wildfire And Desire
5. Utopia Consumed
6. Demon´s Vortex
7. Towards Beyond
8. Pandora´s Miasmic Breath
Duration: 41:16 min
2. Pandemonic Rebelation
3. Equilibrium Pass By
4. Wildfire And Desire
5. Utopia Consumed
6. Demon´s Vortex
7. Towards Beyond
8. Pandora´s Miasmic Breath
Duration: 41:16 min
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.
Jeffrey Shyu (ssmt-reviews)
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.
Jeffrey Shyu (ssmt-reviews)