Back in the late 90’s, when I started getting into extreme metal, a significant method to discover new acts was to peruse through the catalogues and ads in various magazines. Metal Hammer was essentially worth fuck all and our local stores didn’t yet carry Terrorizer – but for some odd reason, they did carry the German magazine Rock Hard. A major attraction was the monthly covermount CD, which introduced me to great acts such as… well, none, really. And I understood very little of the German.

But it had ads. Plenty of them.

And it was easy to see what Austrian Abigor represented, what with their inverted cross logo and demonic album covers. So to my hand scribbled list of “bands to check out” they went.

I remember the day I first heard Abigor. My best friend and I went to a record store, and I had just enough money to buy two CD’s. What a monumental day it was: one was my first ever Mayhem CD, the live bootleg Dawn Of The Black Hearts (the one with Dead, well, dead) and the other Abigor’s demo collection Origo Regium 1993-1994. They were the only CD’s by both acts in the store, as I recall.

Now, the release we’re talking about today is not that CD. I was stupid enough – or poverty stricken enough – to trade or sell my original copy of Origo Regium away some time in the mid-noughties. Eventually, I came to regret it, and bought this two-in-one combo pack by Russian Mazzar.

I must admit, I’d buy the original back if I came across it for a decent price, and that purely for nostalgia reasons, but this re-release will do just fine if that day never comes. You see, the booklet contains the photos and liner notes from both releases, so it’s really almost as good as owning the original. And you get an added bonus of having the Austrian black metal legend’s 1997 EP Apokalypse on the same disc.

Not that I care much for Apokalypse. Like a lot of Abigor, it doesn’t do much for me. In my opinion, the demos are the best thing Abigor ever did. They got rawer and harder for the albums, but lost that magical something in the process. Having Apokalypse and Origo Regium side by side on the same disc just underscores this.

Origo Regium on the other hand – I love it. Being a compilation of demo recordings, the sound is a bit thin and perhaps the whole thing is a bit untight, but these guys had a great concept and a unique touch from the go. What sets apart Abigor from their contemporaries is the feeling of melancholy and sadness they imbue in their music without sacrificing an iota of the rawness. No synths layering romantic, bittersweet melodies here: it’s pure, impenetrable darkness – but also deeply melancholy and forlorn. Even when they get melodic, such as on Shadowlord, the rawness of sound and vocal delivery keeps things from going… well, wussy.

The band would go on an re-record most of the demo tracks featured on Origo Regium on their albums, in particular the debut Verwüstung/Invoking The Dark Age (1994). The album versions have better sound, are a bit rawer and – are lesser for it. Something was lost between the demos and the albums when it comes to Abigor. The only album where they manage to recapture a bit of the magic of the demos is 1995’s Nachthymnen (From The Twilight Kingdom).

Revisiting Origo Regium now, I feel this material has stood the test of time admirably. The flaws are above all in the thin sound: if the musicianship could be tighter, or if some of the writing is a bit sloppy, it can all be forgiven due to the potent atmosphere. This is early second wave black metal at its finest, before dogma and convention – and for some, “scene rules” – kicked in.

Just take a listen to Kingdom Of Darkness or Eye To Eye At Armageddon or in particular to the slow, tragic My Soft Vision In Blood. Such great tracks, especially in these early, somewhat nascent renditions. They capture a magical moment in time.

Abigor would, of course, go on to become veritable legends of second wave black metal, even if not the biggest name in the genre. And they are still going strong today. From time to time they’ve erred in the wrong direction in their artistic growth, but perhaps somewhat surprisingly have managed to find their way back.

But in all of their discography, there’s nothing I love as much as these early demos.

---

In From The Vaults we take a dive into the record collection at Only Death Is Real HQ and write about about items of iconic stature or personal significance; rarities and oddities from the archives; obscure gems that deserve more attention; classics of yore deserving of a moment in the limelight; and so on.