Shockwave 666

So, another EP release from Abigor. Is this one essential? Absolutely not. However, if you want to check out alternate versions of two previously released Abigor tracks “Shockwave 666” will be of interest. “Dawn of Human Dust (2002 Version)” is a new version of the opening track from the “Channelling the Quintessence of Satan” album. This new version is a bit faster (sounds like they just altered the pitch though) and the drums are more prominent in the mix than they were on the original version. Stefan Fiori doesn’t manage to add anything spectacular to this track vocal wise (originally the vocals were sung by Thurisaz). I also have to add that to these ears Fiori sounds like Thurisaz with a higher pitch, so I’m really wondering whether the vocals have actually been re-recorded or not. Anyway, the vocals are higher in the mix on this version than on the original. Also the guitar mix for this version differs a bit from the original, you can hear some melodies and riffs better while others have been mixed lower. They’ve also added a speech sample to the calm middle part of the song and left out the keyboard sample that was in the beginning of the original version. I my opinion this 2002 version really doesn’t add anything to the original version, it’s basically just a remix.

The second track on this EP is a new version of “Repulsor” from the “Satanized” album. According to some info I saw, this is “the strangest track the band ever made”. I agree that it’s strange and it’s also much more different from the original than the new version of “Dawn of Human Dust” is. The problem is that I don’t like it that much. OK, it’s meant to be some kind of cyber/robotic version and I’m fine with that but the production really sucks shit. It’s much worse than on the original, very muffled somehow, as if the music would be coming though a filter. During the first part of the song it sounds like the muffled sound “swallows” the music, making everything very unclear. What I think has happened, is that the low frequencies of the keyboards have been boosted too much. They’ve deleted the guitars from many parts of the first half of the song and a robotic delay effect has been added to the main vocal track. All clean vocal parts of the original version have been removed. It’s sad that this track is killed completely by the production, since they’ve taken the time out to make it really different from the original version. I think this EP is pretty useless and basically for collectors only.