Abigor
Taphonomia Aeternitatis – Gesange im Leichenlicht der Welt
World Terror Committee Productions
Released: 12/21/23
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1 – Halt the Wheel of Timeless Change
2 – Soldaten Satans
3 – Feasting on the Prophet’s Blood
4 – Extermination Angel
5 – Cult of Elder Chaos
6 – Burning Hell
7 – Forniotrs Weltenreise
8 – Morning Star Anthropophagia
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Crawling chaos, formed and formless, ordered and disordered. Abigor have existed since 1993, with the presentation of their Ash Nazg…demo. Now with fourteen full-lengths to their name, Abigor has not only continued to deliver their chaotic brand of black metal, they’ve improved upon it.
It is impossible to even begin to expound the essence of Taphonomia Aeternitatis – Gesange im Leichenlicht der Welt, rich in detail and intricacy, constantly changing and flowing, exchanging bursts of consonance and dissonance like spiritual machine gun fire, its constant jarring flow leaves little in terms of verses and chorus, there are no chromatics, no convention yielded to stereotypical riff structures, words can only accomplish so much here. It is an experience of a record.
Opening with ‘Halt the Wheel of Timeless Change,’ the listener is pulled in through a slow crawl of dissonant chords, and treble-range progressive movements. Silenius and his vocals are a natural kind, a style in which there are no theatrics, no gimmicks, and no smoke and mirrors. His range is versatile, stomach-churning lows, near-operatic delivery of mids, ghastly highs, something of great skill. When multiple vocal channels stack together in the mix, it is simply otherworldly. There is a moment in the track where it’s just Silenius’ vocals, proclaiming ‘halt the flaming wheel timeless change,’ and it bellows with an authenticity that is lacking in black metal.
‘Soldaten Satans’ is another slow crawl through time and space early on, but the track, however, picks up in pace near the halfway point, only briefly. It is small chaotic segments such as this where the band reaches an absurd synchronicity. T.T. and P.K. deliver instrumental performances that are sharp – razor sharp – with stunning modernized production that delivers a satisfying punch from the bass drums and a clarity to the guitars and bass that allow the orchestrated chaos to shine through.
If, at this point, the listener hasn’t realized how atmospheric Taphonomia Aeternitatis is, then ‘Feasting on the Prophet’s Blood,’ especially the introduction segment, should pound that point home. Very subtle instrumentational flourishes outside of the typical guitar/bass configuration lend detail to the narrative as clean vocals boom forth with bravado and menace. Longer vocal-less passages towards the final third of the track allow T.T. and P.K. to craft a flowing, progressive musical narrative. Silenius’ vocal range on this track encompasses a myriad of range and technique.
The lack of typical verse/chorus/verse means there’s a certain lead-in to the tracks in order to establish themselves. Throughout the album, each track swells and writhes to life, without the aid of conventional riffing and song structure. ‘Extermination Angel’ is no different, however, it is a very heavy, very direct burst of cosmic fire from Abigor. With blast beats on full, the band storms through what is easily the nastiest track on Taphonomia Aeternitatis. Very few trios in either modern death metal or black metal can equal this level of disastrous force. It is raw storming chaos the whole way through.
‘Cult of the Elder Chaos’ slows things back down with a bass guitar prominent opening segment that accompanies a single guitar playing a dancing dissonant single-note sequence. This is a stark change of pace in comparison to ‘Extermination Angel,’ which was dense and misanthropic to the core, whereas ‘Cult of the Elder Chaos,’ takes a slower, almost ritualistic pacing. The added female vocals lead to an almost trance-like configuration of music.
‘Burning Hell’ combines both the atmospheric slow death crawl demonstrated in ‘Cult of the Elder Chaos’ with the terminal velocity and brute force of ‘Extermination Angel,’ leading to a somewhat conventional song structure to encase the chaotic outburst. T.T.’s drumming performance is top-notch, as both blast beats and high-speed double-bass work pepper the track and violently launch the song forward.
Moving into the closing quarter of the album, ‘Forniotrs Weltenreise,’ is a slamming mid-tempo exposition, with an opening primary riff reminiscent of the early age of Abigor. Gang vocals reach almost choir-like levels while T.T. puts on yet another stellar drumming performance. The clean vocal performance towards the end of the track is stunning.
Closing the album is ‘Morning Star Anthropophagia,’ summarizing the band’s performance, combining a myriad of vocal techniques and atmospherics, schizophrenic drumming, and crawling chaotic riffcraft. The album essentially slams itself shut.
Taphonomia Aeternitatis sets a high bar for 2023/2024. While a significant portion of the black metal scene would turn away from the ultra-modern production, it cannot be stressed enough that without it the album would have become a muddle. The clarity and wide spacing of the instruments allow the absurd myriad of details to shine through. The rich bass drum tone accentuates the raw fury during more direct heavier parts. The multiple vocal techniques become characters of sort. This is one of the few times I’ll give compliments to a modern production job.
The musicianship on Taphonomia Aeternitatis is top-level. Ultra sharp riffing and incredibly fluid drumming. The absence of conventional song structures means Abigor can afford to write in a narrative style where progression is absolute king. This narrative style is done exceedingly well, replete with menacing atmospherics and long flowing riff compositions.
Abigor strike hard with Taphonomia Aeternitatis, creating an artistic monstrosity that is the embodiment of auditorial chaos worship.
Label: World Terror Committee Productions
Band: Abigor
AJK
apanthropy 
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