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I kind of lost track of Abigor after 2001's Satanized, so I was surprised to see a new album land in my inbox—it's getting difficult to keep track of all those bands. Totschläger (A Saintslayer's Songbook) did not click for me right away and I put it aside for a few weeks before coming back to it, and since then it's been in regular rotation. Simply put, the overall album sounds majestic, theatrical with some symphonic elements and some songs have an unshakeable epic vibe.

As far as black metal goes, this is a little on the weird side of the fence. There's a '90s blasting black metal backbone to it, but it's augmented with powerful sounds that remind me a little bit of Emperor and even Septicflesh when both bands really go extravagant. The atmosphere is out of this world, soothing but ominous and even throwing in a bit of a horror vibe with a couple of passages that would fit well on a King Diamond album. It's all over the place and yet it still sounds good when taken as a whole, which is no mean feat. The vocals are haunting and pierce through the speakers and they're hard to shake off long after the album is over. This is a complex album that demands some attention from the listener and it keeps getting better the more you listen to it and discover its many layers. If you're in the mood for over-the-top black metal that doesn't sound like everything else out there, this album might just be what you're looking for.