Abigorum began as the solo project of Russian musician Aleksey Korolyov, who is also the owner of Satanath Records. Operating on his own, and drawing upon traditions of doom, black metal, and dark ambient music, he recorded a sequence of releases that included a collaboration with Cryostasium (2016’s Unholy Ghost Liturgy) and a split with Striborg (2018’s Spectral Shadows). After that he expanded the line-up of Abigorum with the addition of two German musicians — guitarist/vocalist Tino Thiele (from Wulfgar and Metamorph) and bassist Sandra Batsch — and together they completed a 2019 debut album named Exaltatus Mechanism.
Ms. Batsch subsequently departed, and now the remaining duo of Korolyov and Thiele have recorded a new Abigorum album named Vergessene Stille that’s set for release by a consortium of labels on April 13th. Today we present the premiere of its first advance track, “Erhebt eure mit Blut gefüllten Hörner“, which manages to create an experience that’s both hypnotizing and nightmarish, both hauntingly seductive and terrorizing.
These seemingly conflicting sensations derive from a multitude of sources as the song morphs over the course of its 11+ minutes. Introduced by a flickering rhythmic pulse overlaid by shimmering synths and wraithlike wails, the song unfolds into a slow and stately drum beat and a combination of grim abrasive chords, swaths of sweeping celestial sheen, and throat-scarring shrieks. Deep, dismal sensations maneuver through the low end, and the music becomes more fraught with sensations of menace and dread. The vocals remain frightening in their intensity, straddling a line between fury and wretchedness and lending elements of violence and poison to the ominous eminence that shrouds this midnight-dark song.
Glimmering arpeggios ring out in grief-stricken yet mesmerizing fashion and the bass emits funereal moans. The experience is segmented by haunting strummed chords, and after each such moment the music undergoes changes, including a shift into eerie, hallucinatory realms that seem both vaporous and laden with peril. As the rhythm shifts into a lurching cadence, the synths soar again, radiating a cold, alien light, and the guitar reverberates in tones both chilling and beckoning. At the end, creepy bubbling vibrations provide an unnerving finale.
If Google Translate is to be trusted, the title of the song translates to “lift up your horns filled with blood”. The album as a whole, we’re told, is “about death, about ridiculing human prejudices, about people who live and enjoy this life, but do not understand that they are only slaves”. It is accompanied by striking cover art created by Luciana Nedelea.
Vergessene Stille will be released by the Norwegian label Duplicate Records, the Russian label Satanath Records, and the German label Black Blood Records. The formats will include standard CD (500 copies), Digibook CD (100 copies), black vinyl (200 copies), and gold vinyl (100 copies). T-shirts will also be available soon, and a cassette edition (50 copies) will be released by the Dutch label Void Wanderer Productions.It’s available for pre-order now:
PRE-ORDER:
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat312-abigorum-vergessene-stille-2021
https://duplicaterecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.blackbloodrecords.de
https://voidwandererproductions.bandcamp.com/
ABIGORUM:
https://www.facebook.com/abigorum
https://abigorum.bandcamp.com
TRACK LIST:
01. Erhebt eure mit Blut gefüllten Hörner 11:12
02. Der geheimnisvolle Käfig 09:13
03. Vergessene Stille 06:17
04. Zerbrechlicher kleiner Geist 11:11
05. Rast und Abschied 02:53
Total length – 40:47