Style: raw black metal
Thoughts: There is a ton of stuff to cover with this release... instead of trying to cover every demo on it's own I'm going to go over thing in generalities and what impressed me about the early days of one of the finest black metal bands on the planet.
The most notable thing that I found was that the first few demos do not have Silenus as vocalist. For most of the bands early works Rune the one delivering the devilry behind the microphone. His vocals are incredibly high pitched and every now and then will give a ear piercing howl/shriek that will burst my ear drums if the music is too loud.
The music itself is discernible as Abigor though in a primitive state. The riffs aren't nearly as complex as the later albums and the bass is audible (!) on the early demos even though the production is markedly worse than many of the full length albums.
There is also this unrefined quality to these demos that their full lengths don't have (with maybe the exception of the debut). This raw creative energy shows the band throwing whatever the hell they want into the songs. Anything from a sample of slaves chanting to random guitar noodles over an ambient track to Rune screaming at the top of his lungs. There is simply things that the band were doing at this stage that was abandoned in later albums.
I love listening to a bands demos. It gives me a sense of where they came from and what formulated their early works. Abigor is no different. They had quite a few demo and rehearsals released before their debut album. This is a treasure trove for people interested in Abigor's early workings. I find this fascinating, but at the same time I'm not sure how often I will listen to this album in its entirety. Regardless it's an indispensable part of black metal history that finally got a proper vinyl release.
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