Abigor - Fractal Possession CD

First, let’s set things straight : This album has by far the best sound of all their albums and can easily withstand international competition as well. Everything is clearly audible; from the eerie guitars to the once again hammering drums to the new singer to the fitting embedded soundeffects. Speaking of soundeffects: there are plenty of them here, and sometimes it’s hard to tell if it is a real effect or some freaky guitar sound. Oh, and Thomas Tannenberger has returned to the drumchair of ABIGOR where he belongs. I don’t think one has to argue about the skills of Moritz Neuner, who has played drums on “Satanized”, but at least I had the feeling that his style did not fit ABIGOR too well. Now, hearing Thomas on this album there can be no doubt that his style is exactly what ABIGOR needs. This guy was and is simply one of the most groovy, tightest and most dynamic Black-Metal drummers, period. And the new singer A.R. takes ABIGORS vocals to a new level: Mostly snarling like MAYHEM’s Attila, this guy manages clear, spoken passages as well as growling and screaming.

The songs: A perfect symbiosis of the last two albums. The cold, precise riffing of “Channeling…”; combined with the strangeness of “Satanized”. A good balance of infernal blasts, technical parts, and slow, melodic parts. Although you can’t really compare ABIGOR to them, the created atmosphere is not unlike the last two MAYHEM- outputs, to give you at least a diffuse picture. I’d have a hard time which songs I would recommend to listen to, each one is unique but bears enough elements to recognize ABIGOR. My personal favourites are “Liberty Rises A Diagonal Flame” which brings up nostalgic memories of glorious “Nachthymnen”- days and “The Fire Syndrome” which, with an eerie, aggressive atmosphere, opens gates to demonplains somewhere beyond the stars and briefly, riffwise, mentions “Opus IV” (as does the start of “Injection Satan”).

ABIGOR have topped themselves here, easily achieving top grades in creativity and innovation. The songs are unbelievable complex and at the same time straight; there is a huge amount of breaks, effects and samples involved, but what sounds like too much works out fine in the end. So, what weapon is “Fractal Possession”? I can’t get the picture of a machine-armed with surgeon scalpells and killing with deadly precision- out of my head somehow…

6 panels DigiCD with booklet.