Reviews list for Abigor - Orkblut - The Retaliation (1995)

A breathtaking journey that combines ambient, folk and blistering black metal. Abigor's finest moment!

Orkblut - The Retaliation was the first Abigor album I purchased way back in 1995 and I think it’s probably my favourite. This Austrian band has gone through various stages over the years, but all their finest releases came about in the mid to late 90s. There was something truly epic and captivating about their sound throughout this period and the band put far more effort into their work than they would on a few of the later, less than excellent recordings. Orkblut has a running time of under 25 minutes and there has been some confusion as to whether this should be considered an album or an EP. I will always consider it to be an album, as it contains 11 tracks that combine into one extremely complete and satisfying result. But who cares about such minor details? The fact is that Abigor released an immensely entertaining album with Orkblut and it’s one that I go back to repeatedly.

Orkblut is a unique experience in many ways. It tells the story of a warrior in battle and every track encompasses an appropriate mood that follows the steps of his journey. This is effectively done by splitting the album up into varied styles including blistering black metal, ambient sections and medieval folk. What this means is that there are only 4 full black metal tracks to be found, with the rest acting as intros, interludes and outros. This may all sound a bit gimmicky but while it’s certainly not a seamless experience (some of the transitions are clunky to say the least), it is always a captivating and exciting one. It’s the type of album that is meant to be listened to in its entirety rather than track by track which is where the short running time works in its favour.

The black metal tracks are awesome with The Rising of Our Tribe and Emptiness / Menschenfeind / Untamed Devastation being of note. You really do get the sense that a battle is taking place during these tracks and the war drums that appear regularly are a genius addition. In f act, Thomas’ drumming is just sensational throughout with flawless blast beats and fills flying everywhere. Silenius’ immediately distinguishable vocals are fantastic as usual and Peter (he really needed a cooler name!) seems to have an endless source of cracking riffs to choose from. The keyboard driven ambient sections work well, which isn’t surprising when you consider they were performed by Rune (aka Tharen) who would later go on to form Dargaard. There really isn’t much negative to say here other than the fact that the album is over so damn quickly when I want it to go forever. Then again, every battle ends eventually.