Abigor - Höllenzwang - Chronicles Of Perdition (2018)

The delayed new Abigor vinyl on Avantgarde Music is finally out. Well I’ve had it for a week now and been playing it nonstop ever since. It's been available on streaming apps and CD since January but I wanted to wait for this record to give a real verdict on it even if I've listened to ir on Spotify a handful of times.

Kind of regret the top-9 Abigor releases I posted some time ago because this is the best Abigor record I’ve heard since their glory days in the 90’s and my favorite album of 2018 thus far (but I expect the new Hugsjá & Marduk albums will dethrone it). Of course it might be a little to early to have a real perspective on “Höllenzwang” in such a short period of time. But right now I would’ve placed it at number 8 in their discography which might sound low but Abigor isn’t just any other band. So far in 2018 there’s been some amazing albums by Judas Priest, Necrophobic, The Crown and MANY more (I’m also very excited for the upcoming new Immortal album) my 2nd favorite of 2018 so far also has Abigor connections “With Doom We Come” by Summoning with vocalist Silenius.

Who has returned to Abigor at least as a session member as he were on their previous full length studio album “Leytmotif Lucifer” (2014) and it’s great to hear him with Abigor once again. The opening song All Hail Darkness And Evil sets the tone and from that it’s pure fucking Abigor awesomeness. One minor gripe I have with this and only vinyl release is the lyrics insert with promo pics for t-shirt and records on the back it’s printed on some very cheap flimsy A4 paper. Because it's like the paper I use for my printer at home something more sturdy would’ve been better.

But it’s a beautifully designed cover and the back sleeve looks great don’t miss Tony “It” Särkkä and the old Deathlike Silence Productions slogan “No Fun, No Core, No Mosh, No Trends” with the "anti-picture" of Anton LaVey back there.

You don’t need to be familiar with any of the old Abigor albums to enjoy this record so I really hope they’ll gain some new fans with this album. I’ve written this many times at least over at Instagram but if Abigor had been from Norway or Sweden and played live they would’ve been among the top-20 biggest bands in the Black Metal scene during the 90’s. Det är sant det!