Review by Ben for Abigor - Nachthymnen (From the Twilight Kingdom) (1995)
Abigor created some truly unique and brilliant black metal albums and Nachthymnen is no exception.
After Orkblut completely destroyed me (in the best possible way), I was looking forward to a follow-up a heck of a lot. I didn't have to wait long as Nachthymnen came out just a few months later. I think at first, I was a little disappointed that Abigor had made a more straight up black metal album after Orkblut had contained so many wonderful little interludes and a whole plethora of medieval instrumentation. But it didn't take me long to realise that the band had lost none of their creativity and had instead managed to mix a lot of this ingenuity into the black metal itself, allowing for a far more seamless experience that would reveal more and more on every listen.
The production went up a notch with the blast beats having a lot more punch than on previous Abigor outings. In fact, Thomas is an outstanding drummer that never gets enough praise and he somehow manages to perform some of the guitar for the album as well (one assumes not at the same time). Peter's riffs and melodies always contain a strange and unique element that I love, and this album has some truly beautiful work indeed. The way he mixes acoustic guitar into the opening track is breathtaking to say the least! Silenius' vocals are great as usual. He sounds unlike anyone else in the scene and somehow his style is perfect for both the intense black metal of Abigor and the more bombastic, symphonic musings of Summoning.
Yet despite getting over my initial disappointment and finding another great release by these Austrians, I must admit that Nachthymnen is by no means perfect. The female vocals are a nice addition but are unfortunately a bit hit and miss, and a couple of the tracks towards the end don't quite hold the level of brilliance displayed early on. But Abigor were certainly one of the most exciting bands in extreme metal back in the mid-nineties, and while they couldn't keep this high standard going for very long, no fan of black metal should be without their first few albums. Highlight tracks are Unleashed Axe Age, Scars in the Landscape of God, Dornen and Revealed Secrets of the Whispering Moon.