Band:	Abigor
Album:	Orkblut - The Retaliation
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	March 01, 1995
Guest review by:	Paganblood

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

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.