In order to have a convincing black metal name, stealing a name of a character from the classic novel “The Crucible” is probably a good start. Taking their name from the main accuser of the “witches” in the Salem Witch Trials in the late 1600’s in the novel, Abigail Williams forges out a metal sound that pay a huge debt to the European black metal bands of the 1990’s, with a bit of a more modern take on things.
After releasing their debut in 2008, the band has just released their sophomore album, “In The Absence Of Light” and preparing to release the next wave of their atmospherically blackened sound.
With song titles like “What Hells Await Me” and “In Death Comes The Great Silence”, it’s pretty obvious that the music keeps the overall aesthetic of black metal, but as the band has trimmed some members of the past few years- the band’s sound is shifting a little. With vocalist Ken Sorceron taking over producer duties and hiring new guitarist Ian Jekelis and new drummer Ken Bedene, Abigail Williams is shifting to more of a black metal crunch and fury versus the sometime keyboard influenced sound that dominated much of the first album. But the raw energy does give the album more of a early-mid 90’s European black metal vibe versus the Americanized take on it through the past couple of years- but alas- no corpsepaint.
As the new album is released, the band is venturing out on a month long tour with longtime metal favorites Vader and Immolation. The tour runs through October 30th, but the bands hit Detroit on October 6th as Blondies’ host the fury of these bands. But before checking out the show, make sure to pick up a pure blast of darkened metal as “In The Absence of Light” is out now.
Abigail Williams plays at Blondie’s on Wednesday, October 6th. Tickets are $15 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com. Additional tour dates and band info can be found at www.myspace.com/abigailwilliams.
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