But I like to change things up, and ABZÛ did look interesting. Games like Call of Duty or Skyrim, and MOBAs like Heroes of the Storm, are where I spend most of my gaming time. Normally my cup of tea involves of action (read: violence). Absu’s Abzu is definitely in the running for record of the year and I’m going to be enjoying the hell out of this one for a long time. Let me start this ABZÛ review by saying that I didnt originally plan on picking up the game. So mark up another win for black metal’s brightest spot right now. A brutal dose of thrashy riffing that makes you want to headbang and then leaves quickly enough that you want more is always preferable to a record that you can’t finish. While some might complain about the length, I actually think that a 36 minute record is preferable to a 56 minute one and Abzu makes this point perfectly. How these guys continue to just nail it out of the park time and time again is actually pretty impressive to me. Abzu is serene and meditative, calming and cathartic, moving and timeless, its simple components assembled so elegantly as to become something altogether richer. It’s got all the thrashy post- Tara riffing and song construction that you want, with all the extremity and esoteric lyrics you could possibly want. To be honest, I don’t have really much more to say except that this record is awesome. They’re most noticeable in the march sections of the epic 15 minute “Song for Ea,” and the down moments accentuate the rawness of the riffs and feeling. Jump up to: Gaston, Martin (August 2, 2016). Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. The use of keyboards here is subtle, laying out simple beds for the riffs and the tortured vocals to rest on. Abz is an adventure video game developed by Giant Squid Studios and published by 505 Games. The riffs on here are addictive and the feel is out of this world and over-the-top.Īctually, if I were to draw correlations to other records, this one kind of reminds of me of the breakneck speed of Reign in Blood and Marduk’s Panzer Division Marduk, but with a lot more variation and, dare I say it… pizazz.
While Absu felt long and never quite drew me in, Abzu is a ball-busting thrashfest that only pulls up for moments to wow the listener with some rad acoustic work (“Circles of the Oath). While the band may be maintaining their general form and function that they’ve had since it’s other opus Tara, they bring a level of extremity to their game that is remarkably refreshing. Case in point? The heavily thrash-influenced Absu just put out another new record, and not only do they defy the black metal genre as a whole, they’re actively working to redefine it in a way that is much more palatable to my Angry Metal Taste Buds.Ībzu, the unfortunately named follow up to 2009s self-titled opus Absu, feels like a different record than its predecessor. Of course, one shouldn’t draw such broad generalizations, because then you’ll end up posting a review that disproves the whole thesis of said generalization (this is not to say that he’s wrong, by the way, he was oh-so-right.
The whole shit has long been, in my opinion, a conservative and copycat genre which has generated little new or of note since at least the early 2000s, with its glory years being firmly rooted in the mid-to-late 90s. And while nothing (including some intimidatingly large sharks) wants to actually eat you, it’s still a fish-eat-fish world down here, and you can observe the convincingly recreated circle of life by meditating at a shark statue if you want.Recently here on Angry Metal Guy, Steel Druhm took black metal as a genre to task for, frankly, sucking. I was constantly wondering what I would find around the next bend, and each new area I discovered kept the surprises coming with fantastic architecture and some incredibly large spaces to swim in. ABZU is the first game from developer Giant Squid but dont let that put you off as there is some remarkable talent behind the.
I found myself traveling through its underwater rabbit hole into a strange, unfamiliar world full of cryptic iconography and ambient life such as fish, turtles, and whales. 9/10 GameSpot Closer to being a work of art than many games ever. This journey feels remarkable because of the way it constantly dangles the next intriguing area in front of you. When I die, I hope whatever happens next is even half as beautiful as ABZU. Abzu is quite simply a breath-taking piece of interactive art, that feels vivid and more alive than you’d imagine a video game was capable of being. From seaweed swaying in the current to mysterious sunken shrines, each area shows off Abzu’s fantastic art direction, attention to detail, and an impressive sense of scale as you swim through enormous chasms under the sea.
“Abzu’s intriguing underwater world is presented with little introduction – you’re a mysterious diver who awakens and begins to explore – but it generates enough mystery to propel you through a series of stunning locations.