Fire Walk with Us

Fire Walk With Us! is very nearly two decades old, but has lost none of the otherworldly brilliance that originally entranced me on release in 2001. The turn of the century was a curious time for black metal; a maturing audience tiring a little of the orthodox second-wave Scandinavian sounds of the key progenitors, and some of the bands themselves reflecting this desire to push the genre into new spaces. Pivotal bands such as Dodheimsgard, Arcturus and Satyricon were at the forefront of this movement, combining external influences such as drum ‘n’ bass, folk and psychedelia with a molten core of black metal riffing to forge ever more left hand paths of extremity.

Aborym’s debut, Kali Yuga Bizarre, had flown somewhat under the radar, but with the aforementioned millennial zeitgeist in their favour, together with the symbolic presence on vocals of ex- (and once again current) Mayhem totem Attila Csihar, the Italians were perfectly positioned to deliver something that both encapsulated the time, and was simultaneously ageless in its embodiment of black metal old and new.

As the buzzsaw guitars of ‘Our Sentence’ immediately set the tone for the rest of the album, Aborym ingeniously deliver the cold, ravishing grimness that one would ordinarily associate with frostbitten black metal, but via the industrial, mechanised feel of the frozen electronics that enhance merge seamlessly with blasting riffing, at times recalling Thorns, in all their discordant majesty.

‘Love The Death As The Life’ falls further into the abyss, with drug-addled psychedelic metal giving way to thumping electronic beats. The grandiloquent title track forms the centrepiece of the album, with a symphonic breadth of sound generating a sense of awe and wonder not dissimilar to early Emperor.

More impressive is that Aborym repeat the trick with the very next track, but with vastly different source material. ‘Here Is No God S.T.A.’ eliminates almost all traces of black metal, instead offering furious techno, but somehow preserving the spiritual core of everything that precedes it.

Finally, bringing the album full circle, prior to the ambient-electro outro of ‘Theta Paranoia’ is a monumental cover of Burzum’s ‘Det Som En Gang Var’. In many other bands’ hands, a version of such a pivotal work of the genre might sound trite and lacking in depth, but on Fire Walk With Us!, it actually serves to unify and connect Aborym with the black metal masters that they both emulate and diverge from so substantially. Aborym’s version is quite simply staggering, maintaining and even accentuating the mesmerising repitition that made the original so essential.

Fire Walk With Us! has lost none of its power since release. In contrast with the music that clearly inspired it, the album finds evokes a dread majesty by taking the listener to the brink of the inward abyss, rather than by looking outward towards infinite nature. The inclusion of the inimitable wails and atonal moaning of Csihar’s vocals also serve to connect Aborym with their clear influences, but rather than standing in the shadows of giants, on this outstanding album. Aborym themselves become one.

First published: https://alifetimeofmusic537956501.wordpress.com/2019/12/24/aborym-fire-walk-with-us/

Man, I LOVE Aborym's ability to create atmospheres not heard much elsewhere. While Kali Yuga Bizarre still tended to concentrate on the worries and demons of the flesh, Fire Walk With Us sees that incinerating and being replaced by a new order, cold and emotionless. With blistering fast but ultimately sterile and fake sounding drums, and razor thin and piercing guitars coupled with loads of synths, samples, and whizzes and whirls, all accompanied by Attila's ghastly voice, I fell in love with Fire Walk With Us' hellish atmosphere. Seriously, this reminds me of what a realistic notion of hell would look like, one brought on by people and war and not supernatural forces. I can practically see the soldiers with gas masks and submachine guns marching on the last scraps of humanity while I listen to "Love the Death As The Life", and tracks like "Total Black" and "White Noise" almost emit toxic radiation from their atmosphere.

Fire Walk With Us sits right in the golden period for Aborym, in which they possessed both guitarists and Attila in addition to Fabban. Such a lineup gelled better than any other lineup Aborym had, just based off of what I hear off these three albums (I count Kali Yuga Bizarre in that Attila did vocals for around half the album's playing time) and the world saw Aborym rise to the top of the industrial black metal heap and refuse to submit the throne. While later albums would see a bit more flash and less bang, Fire Walk With Us almost possesses an innocence, a purity, about it. There are no personalities here; what we have is a dreary vision of a world soon to be wrought with fire and plagues. Even Attila's notoriously larger than life personality is successfully meshed with the atmosphere here, and no one member dominates. This is similar to my thoughts about the other 2 albums in Aborym's initial discography, but Fire Walk With Us does have a few flaws.

One of them is the running time, which seems all-too-shorter since there are 4 instrumentals (including the outro) and that much of the running time is spent on a cover. A Burzum cover, albeit, and a well done transformation from folky to "electro", but a cover nonetheless. While one of the songs, Here Is No God S.T.A. (which features a pulsating techno rhythm with a macabre melody) I feel is such a strong song it's stronger at times than some of the actual metal songs, it's still leaving me with the impression that Attila was definitely under-utilized here. There's nothing wrong with instrumentals, especially since White Space is also quite good of a song, despite the lack of vocals, but I feel like there just wasn't enough "meat" on this album. There are really only 3 actual "songs" in the album (Our Sentence, Love the Death as the Life, and Fire Walk With Us) and I feel this would have been better made as an EP, with those 3 songs, perhaps White Space and Total Black merged into one song, and the Burzum cover. As it is, the sightly bloated feeling I get from Fire Walk WIth Us does prevent this from forming the same deep resonance that With No Human Intervention, and to some extent Kali Yuga Bizarre, had with me, it is still quite a rewarding listen. Just don't listen with too many expectations, because Aborym were never about expectations.

On the face of this album, I really shouldn't enjoy it as much as I actually do. In fact, I still treat it as a kind of 'guilty pleasure' to this very day. It has a few hallmarks I just can't abide when it comes to metal, the first being recognizably electronic drums (shudder) and the second being a extensive use of samples (grimace), and third being an almost (dare I say it) 'techno' atmosphere to the music at times (bleeeargh… shhhlurp). Yes, FUCKING techno.

However, it's not 'techno' as in that horrible shit heard from the bleepy farty brigade (although there is a tiny bit of that in dark wave 'Here Is No God S.T.A', but we'll ignore that), it's techno as in the fact that there's an overwhelming futuristic feel to the album. It's as if the band have created the album in a distant future, where alien life-forms are common place on earth, space travel is as common as road travel and cyborgs are beginning to form their own bands, in rows of matrix-esque dingy caves (covered in charred, crumbling age-yellowed posters of Mayhem naturally) to the accompanying sound of massive electrical storms and a permanent electronic hum filling the airwaves. However, don't be fooled into thinking that this is a dubious 'And Oceans' styled type of futuristic – this one is militaristic and ruthless to the nth degree. This is the first album that Attila Csihar took over lead vocals permanently as a full-time member, and this fact adds greatly to the album with his dark croaks and barks adding an earthy edge to the Mysticum inspired forward thinking style of the music. There's a huge post-apocalyptic vibe present throughout this album, with the regimental buzzing guitars utilized as an ode to human-kind as it once was, albeit processed and twisted into strict foreboding form, backed up with the meatier ahead of its time aura and devastating ultramodern double blow of perfectly programmed drums and invasive (but not intrusive) synthesizers which are abundant throughout – sparking forethought into topics such as the possibility of human technological modification, to the possible death of humanity to the uprising supremacy of machines (worked on well by the excellent inclusion of the funeral march tune in the track 'Sol Sigillum'). There's even a re-vamped futuristic Burzum cover here in the form of 'Det Som En Gang Var', which interestingly enough, Attila refused to do vocals on in respect to his old friend Euronymous. It actually sounds quite amazing given its new ultra-modern sheen, something you wouldn't expect upon reading this no doubt.

So, this isn't an album for the stringent black metal purists out there. It's not even an album for your general open-minded metaller necessarily. It is, however, an album for those who aren't afraid of experimentation with technology to enhance a style of music that's so often based in the past, rather than the future. Try it; you might be pleasantly surprised if you don't dwell on the aforementioned t-word. A refreshing change from the norm.

Originally written for www.metalcrypt.com

Aborym is a band that needs no introduction for most seasoned black metal fans. Love their electronically-tinged take on the genre or hate it, there’s a good chance that an avid listener has heard the band’s music at some point. Being at the top of several well-known European metal musician’s resumes, Aborym has carved their own niche with a discography of albums that push the boundaries of acceptability in black metal, all the while attempting to best their previous efforts by not making the same album twice. Fire Walk With Us is the second full-length in their discography, regarded by many as the collective band’s finest offering. This is quite a bold statement for a band that has masterworks like 1999’s supremely hypnotic Kali Yuga Bizarre and 2003’s black/electronica-driven terrorism of With No Human Intervention to their credit. Fire Walk With Us was released in 2001, a time when Aborym were arguably at their peak as far as songwriting and musician lineup. While the album is definitely a defining work of Aborym’s catalogue, there are a few questionable elements present that bring the overall presentation down lower than needed. Had a few of the tracks been cut and “Fire Walk With Us, the album” been called “Fire Walk With Us, the EP” it probably would get a 100% rating. This is not obviously not the case, and the album presented to us in 2001 comes off as being a mixed bag of absolutely killer black metal and pointless filler.

The sound of Fire Walk With Us could be described as being quite thin. There isn’t much bass or low-end to speak of, which could be offsetting to anyone expecting a bone-crushing listening session. Heaviness isn’t the focus of this album; it’s all about the atmosphere. A bleak space-scape scorched by solar winds is presented to the listener via the production, which works excellently on the guitars. The riffing is full of typical black metal dissonance, with tons of memorable sections and even some soloing and leadwork. Electronic noises and samples are scattered throughout, and the synthesized passages are all fantastically evil and terrifying which helps in maintaining the previously mentioned atmosphere. Atilla’s vocals are spot-on with this album, alternating between a crescendo of menacing growls and distorted shrieking. The drum machine does an excellent job in replicating what an actual drummer would do behind the kit with this music (praise is due for the programming), but unfortunately sounds so blatantly like a machine that it may be a distraction for those who hate overly mechanical drumming. If one can get past this, the drumming absolutely enhances the overall feel of bleakness and lack of terrestrial life.

The songwriting is top-notch here, with Our Sentence kicking off the album with an assault of blasting and menacing tremolo riffs. The rest plays out much like a typical track from Kali Yuga Bizarre did, before fading into the intro for Love The Death As The Life. Recordings of marching, gunfire, and presumably human death lead into one of the highlight songs of the album. This is followed by White Space, a very neat instrumental track full of eerie operatic vocals and great use of synth and samples. Proceeding after is the title track and its menacing intro, definitely one of Aborym’s most memorable songs. Bringing up the rear of this is what can be presumed as an interlude, an aggrotech track titled Here Is No God STA. Up next is Total Black, which presents only two riff sections stretched to over 4 minutes and 30 seconds in length. These riffs are quite good, but probably could’ve been used in another song instead of dragged out to a complete song’s worth of time. Sol Sigillum is an all-synth and programmed piece that presents a few good ideas, but ultimately is rather useless (the song ends with the all-too-familiar requiem theme that I’d imagine most people have heard before, and to me seems like a cheap way of filling time when one has run out of ideas). After this is a cover of Burzum’s epic classic Det Som En Gang Var, with which Aborym does an excellent job in twisting the song into their own sonic image. Bandleader Malfeitor Fabban performs vocals here, Atilla presumably not wanting to cover Varg Vikernes’s work after their history in Mayhem. However, one could assume the cover was placed on Fire Walk With Us due to lack of original material, thus placing this great cover in the filler category. The album closes with Theta Paranoia, which is just a sweeping noise with some ambient dissonance towards the middle. It’s quite pointless in the scheme of the rest of the album.

With all this being said, Fire Walk With Us is worth the money/disk drive space, at least the first half of it. This is surely an essential listening for anyone looking for experimental black metal, or anyone wanting a healthy dose of synth and electronics in their abrasive listening diet. Fire Walk With Us brings some new elements not heard on Kali Yuga Bizarre, yet is nowhere near as electronic as With No Human Intervention. It’s a shame that the album peaks only halfway through the total runtime, as it really would warrant a 100% rating had it been shortened to the first 5 tracks. But as the title says, this is still essential Aborym and one would be doing themselves a disservice by not checking out this sinister offering from one of Italy’s finest.

Cooking up a storm amongst black metallers who believe nothing of redeeming quality has been produced since 1996, here we have Aborym’s second release “Fire Walk With Us”. I am personally of the “I don’t care” opinion when it comes to evolving black metal beyond the old school style and think that the updating of the style is a good thing if the music is good, which is the case here.

Aborym play in a black metal style bringing in industrial and some techno influences, and they do it well. The black metal is heard in the riffs, the drums and of course the ever recognisable antics of Atilla on vocals. I have thoroughly enjoyed Atilla’s performances on all of his albums from Tormentor’s debut album all the way through to the latest Mayhem album, and here is no exception. He uses black metal shrieks, his low growl and some clean singing. The thing that puts this performance on a different level is the futuristic sounding effects and layering put on the vocals. An excellent example of this is in the title track where the effects make him sound even more deranged than usual, only to change to the clean singing he uses later on in the track.

The drums, courtesy of a drum machine, are also used very effectively. People complain about drum machines a lot and in some cases with good reason, but this is a completely different kettle of fish. The drum machine is actually appropriate when playing this style, adding to the futuristic and mechanical sound of the album. Both of the drumming styles used fit the guitars to a tee, pummelling blasts to compliment the faster black metal riffs and crushing industrial beats to compliment the slower industrial riffs. There are also some noise elements brought in as part of the percussion, all rounding off the sound perfectly. Another effective use is in the practically all techno track, “Here is no God S.T.A” which is very enjoyable and a nice, if surprising, edition to the album.

An unusual and possibly diminishing part of the album is the way it is finished. Firstly I will say that I really enjoy covers as bonus tracks but I am normally not a fan of putting them in as part of the album as a whole because it normally ruins the feel. However, luckily for me, Burzum is one of my favourite bands and “Det som en gang var” one of my favourite songs. Aborym also manage to incorporate it very well, putting their own sound and style to the song making a futuristic version of the organic original. Even though I thoroughly enjoy this track I still find it slightly cheeky to include it as a main part of the album and essentially close with it. This leads me to the last track, which is an ambient industrial piece. Unfortunatly after the onslaught before it the song does not really add much to the album and I tend to turn off after the previously mentioned cover.

Overall this is an album for people looking for extreme music that may be a sign of things to come. Whether or not it is black metal is forever up for debate but rather than worry about that I will take it for what it is, a great metal album and an interesting listen.

I will not try to pick out the different parts of this album, since it is one flow of music pretty much, presenting one idea after eachother.

Aborym is described by most people as black metal, but seeing the label of black metal is too broad, I will try to describe what they have conceived with this album.

Their music is made up of minimalist black metal riffs, repeating ideas over and over, to create a wave of music assaulting your ears. They add samples and odd electronic sounds to their music, which may seem a little lame on paper, but fits perfectly with the music after a few listens. They even go as far as incorporating techno beats in one of the parts of the cd. This seems very odd and out of place the first listen, but it becomes more obvious, as they are just trying to portray direct aggression through their music, and the raw beats of techno are definitely a way to do that effectively.

The music consists of two guitars, bass, keys, samples and a drum machine (AAGGGHHH!). The drum machine bothered me quite a bit at first, but you can at least drown it out, unlike with certain other bands (*cough* Mortician *cough*), and they are not annoyingly precise, with some taste left still.

The cover of Burzum’s Det Som Engang Var is beautiful, and retains its original feel very well, congrats to Aborym.

Not for the weak of heart or the black metal hater. Try this and be open, and you will have another type of music in your head.

Aborym pour out some of the sickest, most original blackened art one finds these days. After hearing Kali Yuga Bizarre, i was excited to learn that the band was soon to release another album. Fire Walk With Us! is a lot different, but here the band is still evolving into their truer sound, which shone through on With No Human Intervention. This album has more techno/industrial influence than KYB, but not as much as WNHI. The highlight here is Atilla Csihar on vocals. On KYB, Atilla only did guest vocals on a couple of tracks, but on this album he has taken on all the responsibility. He utilizies his classic tenor growl, but mixes it with a lot of high pitched screams, yelps and shrieks - usually laced with various mic effects. The drums are programmed and pouding. Following the Darkthrone belief, the drumming is minimalized and only there to accentuate everything else. The riffing isn't the main focus on the album since it has Atilla's vocals and the strange alien themed electronics/sampling/etc to back it all up. Thus is it mostly simple and droning (in a good way). Most of the tracks are in the band's "Black Metal" form, but there is one techno-ish track ('Here is No God S.T.A.'), an instrumental, an excellent Burzum cover (which later appeared on the Burzum tribute, Visions), and then all capped off with the useless outro Theta Paranoia (which lowers the albums rating).

Many people can't handle bands who take an experimental stance to pre-established music genres. Aborym are one of these bands. To enjoy the music, you must appreciate the evolved style they have. If you can, this is a damn good album.