Music review: Abigor - Supreme Immortal Art (1998)

I must begin this review with my completely objective and not-elitist-at-all opinion about so-called "symphonic" metal:

There are two seemingly unrelated extremes to this genre: the rare work that truly tries to achieve a symphony-like intricate layering (e.g. Emperor's legendary Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk) and at the other end, stuff that just adds generic opera vocals and/or abuses the wind presets of their Casio keyboard (Therion, Dimmu Borgir, or if we must really scrape the barrel's bottom, Epica, Nightwish and their ilk) to woo teenagers and people with the artistic maturity of one. Lots of good stuff in-between, of course.

This definitely goes in the former category. Mind you, this complexity together with the relatively harsh mix and relentless sound Abigor is known for isn't for everyone nor for every situation: a good deal of focus and stamina is required to get the most out of it.

But if you do have hardened ears and are in the right mood, then try it. I can unironically use the word beauty when talking about Supreme Immortal Art and its countless ornate but rarely ostentatious melodies, low amount of repetition and the bewitching interactions between lush synths, hypnotic guitars, inspired drumming and exemplary BM vocals. All of that bathed in a strong medieval witches' sabbath or evil alchemist lab atmosphere that really ties it all together.

NB: the remaster/remix on bandcamp is truly horrible, try the original with the volume up (to overcome its slightly muddy mix) first.