Peter Kubik, Abigor Founding Guitarist, Dies at 49

Peter Kubik, founding guitarist for Austrian black metal band Abigor, has died at the age of 49.

The band shared the sad news on its official Facebook page, stating that Kubik “walked through the gate by his own hand, through his own will.”

The full post reads:

“PK 1975 – 2024

immortal in his legacy – blood (family), soil (home) and monuments of Black Metal art.

walked through the gate by his own hand, through his own will.

(photo below May 1995 during the recording of Nachthymnen. more following during the next days. keep your respectful distance to the bereaved for now!)”

Kubik co-founded Abigor in 1993 alongside drummer-guitarist Thomas Tannenberger and remained the group’s sole consistent member until his passing. Overall, the band has released 13 albums, most recently 2023’s Taphonomia Aeternitatis – Gesänge im Leichenlicht der Welt.

Among the most respected of the second-wave black metal bands, Abigor released their first album, Verwüstung / Invoke the Dark Age, in 1993 via Napalm Records. Both the debut and its follow-up, 1995’s Nachthymnen (From the Twilight Kingdom), helped establish the band — and Napalm Records — among black metal circles, and each is considered a classic of the genre’s early ’90s style.

Helmed by Kubik, Abigor took a more experimental/progressive approach on their following albums, with Tannenberger leaving the group in 1999 before returning in 2006. The aforementioned 2023 LP, Taphonomia Aeternitatis – Gesänge im Leichenlicht der Welt, garnered critical acclaim upon its release, with fans placing it among the band’s finest efforts.

Below you can see Abigor’s Facebook post and check out some of the music Kubik created with Abigor.