[since I did promise to write a review once in a while for bands and / or projects and / or artists and / or labels and / or distributors (etc.) that I do adore (personally and / or musically), I will finish this one, although it’s an older one, being released about a year and a half ago. This one is, in the first place, for my dear friend Aleksey, this one is for Jane, this one is for Juha, Ilya and Evgeny, for me and for you too!]
I do not feel like focusing on an extended introduction when it comes to this band, Abigorum. It’s an international project (read: currently with members from Georgia and Germany), which nowadays includes Satanath Records chieftain Aleksey Korolyev (drums and keyboards) and Tino Thiele (strings and vocals); bass player Sandra Batsch left the band a couple of years ago. On this specific album, more nationalities are involved, by I’ll come back to this soon.
I’ve really appreciated all former material by Abigorum; in any case of interest, you can check out any of the reviews I did for the former Abigorum-releases (links: below). This new one might sound little different (see further), but it still represents their characteristic mixture of blackened and doomed epicism. Foretaste Of Justice comes with really intriguing artwork, courtesy of Alexander Prokofiev (Paint-It-Black Design): a dark silhouette in a nightly environment, surrounded by moths, veiled by coldness and darkness. The compact-disc comes with a twelve-page booklet, and there are three different vinyl pressings too, yet limited in edition evidently. The release duties are taken care of by, of course, Satanath Records, once again in a partnership with Vegvisir Distribution, Fetzner Death Records and No Balls Records. This said…
The better part of this album was recorded (and mixed) during 2022 and 2023, with additional guest recording sessions in Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Türkiye. In this case I am talking about the vocal assistance of, respectively, Blackthorn’s Aina and Askeesi’s Gvantsa Giorgadze on the last track, Am Ende Einer Neuen Welt (‘at the end of a new world’), and Dev (of Divahar-fame) and Mitka Akkoyun (also violins; you might know her from her role in Illusion’s Play) in Der Ruf Der Verzweifelten Bergen (‘the call of the desperate mountains’). The lyrics of the latter, by the way, have been written by Jane Orpheus, the partner of Aleksey, as well as the CEO behind the magnificent label Funere.
Foretaste Of Justice clocks forty-three minutes, divided over eight titles. Stylistically, it still continues the mixture of both Black Metal and Doom Metal, like the former albums. Yet as from opener Die Blutflamme (‘the flame of blood’) one cannot but notice a distinctive approach. The roughness / grimness / bleakness from the past has not totally faded away, yet it did forfeit remarkably. Instead, melancholy, drama and depression seem to take over the general atmosphere. Hey, nothing wrong with that; it’s just an amazing change. Yet then again, Abigorum still combine slow-paced and droning rhythms with majestic and epic melodic structures, based on skilled strings and eerie supportive synths. The main vocals are still of the most raspy kind, but there are more melodic vocal harmonies too, beautifully sung, and full of gothic passion and melancholic expression. That ‘Gothic’ aspect is very prominent as well in a track like Der Ruf Der Verzweifelten Bergen (‘the call of the desperate mountains’), with those female chants, ethereal violins, and funereal riffs.
Remarkable too are the few technical elements, once in a while even caressing their relationship with the Epic / Viking scene. Take Zeuge Des Niedergangs (‘witness of demise’), for instance, offering victorious hints that secretly remind me of Falkenbach within certain excerpts. More than before, the mighty drum patterns too come with a specific glorious elegance.
The tempo still balances in between slow to up-tempo, with a couple of total decelerations and a little hand full of more energetic, faster passages. There are many tempo-changes within each single composition, though never unexpected or exaggerated, yet always nicely balanced and organically smooth. Besides, the production is very decent and well-mixed, while still presenting a touch of rawness in the result, which is a necessary element to define the onerous heaviness.
This album is, eventually, dedicated to a couple of other great musicians who left our physical world recently: Gloomy Grim’s Agathon (Juha Hintikka), Evgeny Pilnikov (Wintaar) and Ilya Trunov (Daat). May they rest in peace, in the eternal halls of all of our ancestors!
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat382-abigorum-foretaste-of-justice-2024
https://satanath.com/releases/item/sat382
https://abigorum.bandcamp.com/album/foretaste-of-justice
https://vegvisirdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/foretaste-of-justice
https://fetznerdeathrecords.de/Abigorum-Foretaste-Of-Justice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5a0j-zvglo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdv6b4ty2iI
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/abigorum
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/abigorum-cryostasium
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/abigorum-striborg
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/abigorum-0
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/abigorum-2