Supreme Immortal Art

Supreme Immortal Art is Abigor’s fourth full-length album, and the title is suggestive of an immense arrogance and assumption of superiority on the part of the Austrian black metallers. Remarkably, it lives up to the sobriquet, standing tall as a singular and towering example of mid-to-late 1990s symphonic black metal. It’s not totally unique – there are clear similarities with Emperor, Obtained Enslavement and even to a lesser degree Satyricon and Dimmu Borgir – but there are also enough nuances and touches of individuality to enable Abigor to occupy a position head and shoulders above many of their contemporaries in what at the time was a crowded field, and stand comparison with the giants of the genre. This album is an extremely cohesive release that conveys a scale and grandeur that belies its relatively slim running time, and demonstrates that epic has nothing to do with the duration of a song, and everything to do with creating an immersive alternative universe that pulls the listener in, eliminating all external interference.

Supreme Immortal Art does this from the outset. It’s immediately obvious from the brief but bombastic intro, atmospheric synths swirling around martial drums, a little reminiscent of the loosely-related Tolkien obsessives Summoning, that we are entering that magical black metal territory, where music ceases being something that can be mechanically dissected into its constituent parts, and transforms into an all-encompassing cyclone of majestic feeling, inexorably drawing the listener into something arcane, something beyond. This feeling is enhanced by the fact that this music is singularly black metal, in the sense that it clearly not simply an evolution of what has come before, but something distinctly different. In the early works of Mayhem or Darkthrone (once they had fully transitioned from their death metal debut Soulside Journey), the influences of Celtic Frost, Bathory and the classic triumvirate of Teutonic thrash are detectable even as they are transformed and synthesised into new forms, but Abigor show little clear connection to prior iterations of extreme metal, offering a wall of sound that can only really be compared with their symphonic black metal brethren listed above, although even then, Abigor’s use of non-linear song structures, and their chaotic and restless sound, show enough subtle differences from their peers to distinguish themselves.

At the conclusion of the aforementioned intro, ‘Satan In Me’ explodes into life, a maelstrom of raging guitars periodically emerging from eerily discordant washes of grandiose synths, and perma-blasting drums. The lack of any real riffing combined with the complexity of the composition, is initially disorienting in the extreme. Repeated listens, however, allow the churning and ever-changing chords to begin to resolve themselves into something that becomes surprisingly memorable, even before the spiralling lead guitar melodies that pepper the latter half of the song provide something approaching a hook. The confounding nature of the song structures that frequently develop an initial idea through modulations of key and tempo-changes, rather than returning to recognisable motifs in recurring patterns is accentuated by what one presumes is an intentionally uneven production. As we know, symphonic black metal fairly quickly became a sub-genre smothered by slick, glossy production values and over-familiar synth sounds – thankfully Supreme Immortal Art evades this pitfall with ease, and the production instead creates a true assault on the senses, with drums, orchestral programming, keyboards and guitars taking turns to dominate the roiling turmoil of demonic polyphony that characterises Abigor’s sound.

The nature of an album such as this emphasises the primacy of the experience that the listener undergoes as he / she listens to it. Not unlike a religious ritual, Supreme Immortal Art is something to devote one’s attention to, and even to participate in. In this way, the mesmerising and enveloping nature of the songs truly captivate in a way that simply cannot happen if it is treated as background music to some other activity. This also means that it is difficult to identify any specific songs as obvious highlights or lowlights – the LP is more understandable as a single movement of music, and would lose little were the gaps between the songs removed altogether. That said, there are sections of the album that linger a little longer in the memory than others. For example, ‘Soil Of Souls’ initially introduces itself with mid-period Bathory-style acoustic guitars, mysterious and majestic. This is brief respite, before the band unfurl a sustained blast which is adorned with highly unusual and intricate melodic progressions, a world away from the more basic chromatic tremolo progressions of some of their peers, before the synths become the lead instrument throughout a spectacular mid-section, which leads to the climactic and gradually ascending neo-classical guitar figures which close the song, accompanied by cavernous, reverb-heavy toms. Indeed, T.T.’s performance behind the kit is rarely less than magnificent throughout Supreme Immortal Art. The drums are occasionally a little low in the mix, but he mixes prolonged double-kick blastbeats with more interesting rhythms that provide a personality and variety that prevents Abigor’s specific strain of black metal from ever sounding cold or mechanical. It is important to note that this does not have to be a bad thing – Mysticum and Aborym both confirm that melding an industrial edge to black metal can be utterly fascinating – but the more organic feel of T.T’s playing is perfect for Abigor.

Similarly intriguing is ‘Eclipse My Heart, Crown Me King’. Another labyrinthine track, the opening segment showcases rapid palm-muted rhythm guitar work against a backdrop of halftime drums and synth, before being joined by an apparently vast choir of voices, which rises, as if from the infernal depths of the vortex that Abigor continually find themselves teetering on the edge of. Memorable instrumental passages follow, keyboards and guitars interweave faintly Scandinavian folk melodies, against a barrage of relentless blasting before the band abruptly pull the reins of the four horses of the apocalypse dragging the song to it’s cataclysmic end, complete with equine sound effects! Not for the last time, Abigor call to mind a less psychedelic and somewhat more orthodox black metal version of Arcturus, although where the latter band have their sights fixed firmly on the infinite expanse of space, Abigor open a portal to the fiendish abyss below.

Elsewhere, ‘Blood And Soil’ thrills with operatic vocals straight out of Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ erupting into ferocious black metal guitars, and deft cymbals accenting the baroque cadences of guitars and synths, unusually locked into unison, as opposed to operating in counterpoint as they do for most of the album. As the album draws to a conclusion, the penultimate track, ”Magic Glass Monument’ mutates from a relatively conventional slice of In The Nightside Eclipse-era Emperor worship, through some unexpected major key chord progressions of the kind one might ordinarily expect to find in the kind of folk / black metal popularised by Ensiferum and Finntroll, before the woozy synths of the final section plough a similar furrow to some of Sigh’s more playful work – black metal reflected back at itself in a funhouse mirror, a disturbing distortion of expected forms and norms.

There is very little in the way of criticism to levy at Supreme Immortal Art. The vocals of Silenius, while complementing the musical blitzkrieg, are somewhat generic and add little else than texture. In addition, some may decry the admittedly dated sounding synth sounds that pervade the album, and it is fair to say that what may have sounded authentically spooky in 1998 now sounds a little contrived and passe. Similarly, the orchestral instruments are unavoidably synthetic – one imagines that the band’s budget could not stretch to the kind of string and brass sections that would’ve been needed to bring the band’s most avant-garde ideas to life. Some may find this artifice distracting and off-putting, although in my view it simply adds to the aesthetic, evoking as it does a period of time during which some of the most enthralling music of all time was made, with refreshingly little regard for any prospect of mainstream acceptance or critical acclaim. Supreme Immortal Art is a staggering achievement, a blizzard of ideas which hangs together remarkably coherently. It’s also exactly what I personally want from black metal as a genre – the quotidian fervently obliterated by awe-inspiring cacophony, as Abigor build something that defies description as simply a collection of songs or compositions, but instead stands as a timeless monument to what can be willed into existence by the dedicated mind.

First posted here:
https://alifetimeofmusic537956501.wordpress.com/2020/10/18/abigor-supreme-immortal-art-2/

Here we have another chapter of the book “Abigor – how a band sank into the swamp of mediocrity”. The material of “Supreme Immortal Art”, what an embarrassing title, is neither fish nor fowl. I will explain why but at first let’s say some words about the production. It lacks depth, atmosphere and heaviness. The album sounds pretty strange, like the crippled brother of “Verwüstung / Invoke the Dark Age”. Sometimes the drums are completely in the background and, even worse, sometimes hardly audible. A relatively thin guitar is the most characterizing feature of the material. Occasionally, it is accompanied by gloomy keyboards, but even this instrument, usually responsible for the creation of atmosphere, fails. Thus, parts that draw the listener into the album do not often occur. The first tones of “Soil of Souls” are promising, but the song suffers from its own diversity. Abigor show that they are not able to handle any degree of complexity – and now I come back to the material itself.

Regardless of their respective quality, the single parts of songs like the title track do not shape a coherent song. The overarching theme is missing. Abigor are meticulous about details, but they have lost sight of the big picture. Manual errors exacerbate the situation. For example, the keyboard lines of the opener stray around like a swarm of disoriented bees. All these defects make it hardly possible to identify the strengths of Abigor. They are striving for individuality and they are pretty successful in doing so. It’s no unparalleled sound, because it has an interface with the music of bands like Limbonic Art. However, Abigor try to present the Austrian way of black metal and do not copy the icy guitar leads or further trademarks from the top of Europe. Even the pretty ordinary, guttural vocals attempt to distance themselves from the Scandinavian role models by adding a few German lines.

I wish I could write something about the highlights of the full-length, but the entire material remains on a non-exciting level. All songs are more or less acceptable and they have decent moments every now and then, but after all, the album just passes by without leaving its footprint and, frankly speaking, without enriching the scene. Slightly too progressive, just listen to the dissonant instrumental part of “Magic Glas Monument”, and definitely not equipped with an adequate production, the album is doomed to failure. So much substance, but no idea how to make good use of it – it’s a pity. In all fairness, I am glad to see that two previous reviews for “Supreme Immortal Art” are much more positive, because I appreciate the stamina and the individuality of the band. However, my copy gathers dust on the shelf.

Abigor are a classic example of 90's progressive/technical black metal at it's prime. They were often overshadowed by the Norwegian scene bands like Emperor, Enslaved, Satyricon etc. and also by fellow countrymen Summoning with their more conventional approach, but all of Abigor's albums contain at least some merit. Songs utilize jigsaw-like technical guitar work which often counterpoint between each other at odd tempo's and songs sprawl out like mini impressionistic masterpieces, many riffs which repeat only a few times per song and interrupted at various points with keyboard/ambient interludes that invoke either paganisitic/medievalish atmospheres and/or cosmic spaciness. It usually takes me some time to digest an Abigor album as their songs aren't as immediately grabbing as other aforementioned bands but I personally think that's part of their strength as there is so much going on this is really sophisticated and ultimately rewarding music that I can return to time and again.

Here we have Supreme Immortal Art, an album which follows the very streamlined and straightforward Apocalypse EP by doing the exact opposite. The keyboards here are at full blast which is I suppose in keeping with the time period 1998 when every band was getting the keyboard treatment and reminds me a bit of releases from Limbonic Art, Summoning (naturally due to the excellent and distinctive vocals of Silenius) and of course Emperor in it's complexity and symphonic majesty. While the keys might have turned off some fans I think they are very well suited to the material which utilizes more classical structure than before. There are plenty of arpeggios and interplay between guitar riffs and keys which all goes very well with the longer melodic phrasing that this band likes to utilize. While Abigor never returned to this style again, I see it as ambitious and an interesting experiment for a band that never wrote the same album twice. The guitars here also have the beginnings of an avant garde leaning that they would fully embrace in later releases but here it is still firmly in the black metal tradition with generous nods to the carnival sounds of bands like Arcturus. While they are sometimes criticized for being a band of riffs rather than songs I also think that's a trait common to mid 90's black metal bands like Satyricon or Enslaved who also used to use a ton of riffs per album but in my opinion there is enough compositional cohesion in this to make it work. Where the album really falls flat is the production. It's absolutely horrid and took me quite awhile to get used to. Guitars are muddy (hissy?), the drums almost non-existent and the release overall sounds foggy so as a result I passed it by for years until later realizing it's quality. Not that any of the Abigor releases ever had great production, most sounding like demo quality at best, but oh how I wish the band would remaster this album as I feel it's highly underrated and deserved better as some of the power of the material is buried by the weird production. They've released several demo's and a re-working of Soil of Souls recently (albeit without keys) which show what the album could have been with the right production and might one day be if they decide to fully rework it (hint).

If you are a fan of aggressive symphonic black metal then this album is one of the best I've heard. I'm not sure I would say this is superior to the masterpiece that is Nachthymnen but it's pretty close and showcases the bands incredible growth as musicians from the early days. That being said, internal strife between the musicians at this time suggests that the bands consistent vision which started with Verwustung and perfected with albums like Nachthymnen and the almost equally excellent Opus IV had possibly begun to falter here a bit (with Silenius and T.T soon exiting the band and production duties being handled solely by P.K.), but both this and the following album Channeling the Quintessence of Satan (even Satanized to a degree), are very worthy of praise for their evolution, complexity and intelligent songwriting despite their productions being varying degrees of fail.

It has always boggled my mind that this album isn't in every Black Metal fans top ten list of greatest BM albums. Released is 1998 it is very much a product of its time, though this in no way hinders its impact or cultural relevance. At the same time when other meisterwerken were seeing the light of day (AttWaD, Nightwing, Nemesis Divina, to name a few...), Supreme Immortal Art was largely ignored, overlooked, or forgotten. Why? The answers put forth have always boggled my mind (such as over-written, poor production, too keyboard-oriented, etc, etc.).

The album is Symphonic Black Metal to a degree that would rival the compositional efforts of Emperor, Limbonic Art, or ...And Oceans. The song structures on display here are complex, deep, intricate and emotional. No doubt that this was achieved to a large degree by the core trio working with two other keyboard composers throughout the course of the albums recording. This in turn lends the finished product depth and scope unfound in prior or future works by this monumental band, with the keyboard elements largely disappearing altogether in favour of a more grind/math inspired future. One of the only real criticisms leveled against this album has been the heavy handed use of keyboard in the songs; this 'criticism' has always confused me, especially when taking Emperor and Satyricon of the era into account.

The songs themselves are always cohesive in relationship to one another, and epically broad in scope when taken as a whole. The lyrical concepts behind the album include satan, but rather then a comic book version of some Dark Lord, Satan here is envisioned a a real, decrepit, corrupt, and powerful force in equal measure. Other lyrical themes that are woven within and around that of daemonology are loneliness, isolation, revenge and despair; a far broader gamot to run at the time.

The vocals are perfect in execution and production, as are the lead guitars and keyboard. The single reason why this true work of art does not receive a 100% from me is the production on the kick drums and snare. The drumming by T.T. is (as always) some of the best in the genre, but a touch higher volume on the kick drums and some more depth/reverb on the snare would have been PERFECT. As well, some of the rhythm guitar/bass lines could have been clearer in the mix, and more depth through bass. Oh, why I wouldn't give for a copy of the master tracks! The samples are all taken from a single film, and fit the themes of revenge, betrayal and isolation perfectly.

Every track is sublime, but some of the standouts are 'Soil of Souls,' 'Eclipse My Heart/Crown Me King,' and the single greatest track, 'Blood and Soil' (truely one of the best Black Metal songs ever written and recorded!).

Ignore the detractors, and listen-really LISTEN-to this album. You will be well rewarded!

'Is there hope for the blood of life? Or... will I always fly alone?'

I’m a fan of Abigor, but I see “Verwüstung” and “Opus IV” as being their only albums worthy of purchase. “Supreme Immortal Art” is a pretentious, insincere, unfocused attempt at melodic, symphonic black metal. I must give credit where it’s due though, and say that the song structures are complex, and therefore must have required significant effort in writing. Unfortunately this effort was mostly fruitless, and yes I know this contradicts my review title. The phrase “less is more” has never been more true.

This album is very keyboard/synth laden, and provides some nice melodies. This is intended to be haunting, grandiose and possibly a bit mysterious. The guitars are usually secondary to the keyboards, and the riffs were seemingly written purely as a back-up to the keyboards. Occasionally they emerge with a semi-catchy melody, but generally just chug along in the background. The keyboards are very clean in sound, but the drums tend to be lost in the mix, and this is quite frustrating for the metal listener who wants some aggression or intensity in his/her music, or at least something to punctuate the notes being played. This causes the music to feel like a blur, where definition is lost, especially in the faster sections of songs. The songs rely heavily on Silenius to provide the exclamation marks for individual riffs with his unique snarled screams. The lack of metallic elements in this album causes it to be an unfulfilling listen.

Each song has several different “parts”, as the band was clearly aiming for complexity in song writing, but this seems to be a cover-up for the fact that each part is not particularly interesting on its own. They feel the need to change tempo and melody many times within a song because this is necessary to avoid boredom. As stated earlier, a great deal of effort was put into writing many different riffs and melodies, but they forgot to figure out a meaningful way of putting them all together. In some of the songs there really is nothing to hold them together, no recurring theme or motif to give the songs their identity. The songs are really just a sequence of different ideas and tempo changes. The best music of this genre is able to execute tempo changes by gradually building up to a climax and arousing emotion. Often the transition takes time, requiring repetition. On this album, the tempo changes are tactless and sudden; the lead instruments stop, and then start up again playing a different tune.

Clearly Abigor had difficulty with their transitions between parts of songs, as described above. They even felt the need to separate particular sections with pointless three-second samples. During the title track there are two such instances; the music abruptly stops, an angry man with a deep voice yells something in German (I think) for about three seconds, and then a totally different riff starts up. During “Eclipse My Heart, Crown Me King”, the same thing happens, except with various pointless grunts and groans. During “Blood and Soil”, we have three seconds of operatic female singing, and during “Magic Glass Monument” it’s a man yelling as if he’s about to stab someone. For the better albums of the genre, sometimes reviewers will describe tempo changes and transitions as being “seamless”. The segues listed above are about as effective and aesthetically pleasing as stitching up your pants with spaghetti.

This album would be good as background music, and certainly becomes relegated to this role during the times where I force myself to listen to it. The album title best describes what Abigor’s intent was with this album. They wanted this work of art to be supreme in an objective sense, with lots of “stuff” in it, but they forgot to decide what kind of art they wanted to create.