Original black metal is the thing what Abigor (rest in fucking pieces) offers with their fifth full length album. "Within a few hours all signs will read storm." Oh, so true, but "hours" must be changed to "seconds" in this case.

Channelling the Quintessence of Satan' might well include Abigor's blackest, most brutal material they ever made. Beginning with partly classical intro, 'Dawn of Human Dust' shortly breaks into a vortex of chaos. And it is the chaos that lasts through the whole album. The music is twisted and mainly fast and does not leave much breathnig space for a listener. "Pandemonic outbreaks cause chaos." Oh, so very true.

This release continues Abigor's traditions in many ways: Sharp guitars tear, drums beat the battle march, demonic and echoing vocals blaspheme and overally the whole sound is very cold, echoing and chaotic. The songs have many guitar layers, riffing guitars and ones that play more like leads and such. Guitars cover quite a wide spectrum soundwise; lead guitars sound sharp and thin while riffing guitars sound like coming from abyssic depths. Synthesizers and other atmospheric effects are good yet sparsely used, mainly as tools of transition from one song to another. The drums are heavy and relentless and are mixed to the front. Everything's kept raw, since the performance isn't too polished. 'Channeling...' demands some serious listening and is not suitable for background music. Maybe the chaos makes this the hardest Abigor album to get into. Emperor (another band to rest in fucking pieces) are who come to my mind, but Abigor didn't copy them, they were influenced by Norwegian masters. 'Pandora's Miasmic Breath' sounds very bad, just listen that guitar sound, which could be thinnest ever! It takes power out of the song and leaves me wondering why end the album this way.

Cover art is bloody great with another fantastic engraving by Albrecht Dürer. Other graphics include details (demons, satanic rites) of paintings unknown to me and stylished line graphic. It's simple yet it works and suits well for the band. Lyrics would have been handy, because it is extremely hard to understand what is sung. There are only segments of the lyrics printed on the booklet.

"Onwards, onwards... To hell, to hell." That's where Abigor takes a listener with this album. One of the toughest albums Abigor, meaning both being a very aggressive release and also hard one to get into. 'Channelling the Quintessence of Satan' is only for black metal maniacs, others just forget it. Let yourself be consumed by the chaos.

Rating: 7+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
12/31/2000 09:32