Abigail Williams – In the Absence of Light (2010)

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Abigail Williams, one of the most promising North American bands is back with “In the Absence of Light”, a very dominant second full-length release. After tons of line-up changes, and loosing the very talented Ashley Ellyllon to Cradle of Filth, the band manages to maintain some of its bombastic sound from before and unleashes a guitar-driven Symphonic/Melodic Black Metal attack unlike any other band in North America has ever done before.

Before people start hating on this band, we will mention that they do sound like Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, etc, etc, etc, and that the band did have some ‘American’ Deathcore/Metalcore influences. However, the band with “In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns” did craft some pretty nifty Symphonic Black Metal songs that are only rivaled by their European counterparts. The band also sounded completely different to the whole USBM scene since AW used a more symphonic and ‘European’ sounding style. Because of these reasons we do respect and actually like (very much) AW and their powerful sound.

Anyways, after the lineup changes and what not, we expected the band to be one dimensional and lose its edge. However, it turned out that Ken Sorceron actually whipped out the best album of the band so far. With powerful guitar lines, the songs are actually very brutal and melodic at the same time. The CoF-like vocals sometimes will get to you, but once you hear the riffing and surgical drumming, you will forget about them immediately.

The keyboard/orchestral arrangements are used less than before (probably because of Ashley’s departure), but they are still a solid element in the band. By creating simple and haunting atmospheres, the band does not require ‘wedding-esque’ keyboard arrangements to sound overly symphonic. The band’s current sound is very balanced and it’s actually sounding more like a unique sound to AW, than just a bunch of other influences pasted together (like before).

The album’s opening song “Hope The Great Betrayal” sounds very CoF and Dimmu Borgir like, but after this the band manages to move more into a guitar driven Black Metal assault that feels very unique to AW. This first song also features one of the creepiest sections when they added the hauling of the wolves at the end of the song and will surely creep you out the first time you listen to it.

Most of the songs in this album feature solid riffs that carry the songs from beginning to end. Some other ones require a few tempo changes and trickery to get the listener fully engaged, like the Emperor-sounding “The Mysteries that Bind the Flesh”. But be assured that most songs feature epic melodic sections that will blow you away, and end with all the preconceptions that you might have about this magnificent band (i.e. “Malediction”).

While predictable sometimes, the band does manage to carve their own sound into the musical palettes of this album, but they still sound a bit like somebody else. It’s hard to craft your own sound when bands have released amazing albums in the genre, but we think that Abigail Williams is on it’s way to becoming an even better band and developing more their own sound. “In the Absence of Light” was mixed by Peter Tägtgren, and you will clearly notice this from the brutally majestic sound this release features.

Band: Abigail Williams Album: In the Absence of Light
Label: Candlelight Records

Release: September 28th, 2010

Official Site myspace
Genre: Symphonic/Melodic Black Metal

Country: USA

Rating: 90/100
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