Abigor - Orkblut - The Retaliation - guest review

Abigor - Orkblut - The Retaliation - guest review

Cover image of the reviewed item
Band
Abigor
Style
Black metal
Release date
March 01, 1995
Reviewer
8.8
7.9
Tracklist
01. The Prophecy
02. Bloodsoaked Overture
03. Remembering Pagan Origins
04. The Rising Of Our Tribe
05. Medieval Echoes
06. Emptiness / Menschenfeind / Untamed Devastation
07. ...To The Final Strike
08. Battlefield Orphans
09. The Soft And Last Sleep
10. Severance
11. Langsam Verhallte Des Lebens Schmerz
Guest review by
Paganblood
March 03, 2007
Abigor's third full-length album "Orkblut-The Retaliation" was released in 1995. This album is a very good example of an album with a good fusion of rawness, atmospheric sound and melody. I must say that the performance of drums, guitars and keyboards is well coordinated. Sometimes it happens that in a particular part of a song, the speed doesn't suit, or keyboards don't suit or so on; but in this album you will not find any weaknesses as such. Timely use of keyboards and timely speeding-up have enhanced the songs and to a great extent helped in creating a good atmosphere. The performance of the band members is really worthy of appreciation, for there are only two members involved in performing the instruments (i.e. excluding the vocals) and they have played with good timing and skill.

The lyrics in this album seem to focus mainly on paganism and are quite expressive although short:
"The gods you banished in the ancient days. Have still been worshipped by ones you fear. But wrapped in knowledge we found fulfilment. Forever..."
Many black metal lyrics are often criticized for getting lost in unrealistic fantasy of 'evil', but that isn't the case with the lyrics here; you can refer to the example presented above, and you'll understand what I mean. As well as that, the production is quite satisfactory.

In this album, an instrumental track follows almost every song, and the songs are short in length, yet they hold great melody and atmosphere. The total playing time of this album isn't much, but I feel it can provide good enjoyment to the listeners. This album was released when atmospheric Black Metal was quite young, and it has been an important landmark in the history of the style, and hence shall always remain as an important and a masterpiece album.
Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 9
Originality: 9
Production: 8
Written by Paganblood | March 03, 2007
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.

Comments

Comments: 2 Visited by 52 users

Posts: 3894


Permalink
05.12.2007 - 21:52

Posts: 3894


Nice man! But isn't this release an EP? Not that it really matters, anyway, Silenius is indeed an amazing lyricist. And this release is from my favorite period in Abigor as well, everyone who is into early abigor must hear this.
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Posts: 710


Permalink
06.05.2010 - 17:05
Rating: 9

Posts: 710


A superb EP.
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