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Abigail Williams, Goatwhore, and more to assault The Webster Undergound

Who doesn’t love the ‘package tour?’ That ever popular tradition for metal bands whereby a booking agent and/or label throw together anywhere from four to seven bands who alone probably wouldn’t fill the rooms they are collectively playing. It truly is a rite of passage these days for metal bands to take part in a package tour across North America. Now not all package tours are created equally. Some are simply a means to an end – a way for regional bands to get out of their hometown for a couple weeks.  Others though, like the 2009 ‘Conquer & Curse Tour’ are showcases of some of the best and brightest the metal community has to offer.

Headlined by Candlelight Records’ Abigail Williams and featuring support from Goatwhore, Daath, Abysmal Dawn and Success Will Write Apocalypse Across The Sky, the Conquer & Curse Tour is shaping up to be one of the best package tours to hit New England this year.

Headliners Abigail Williams, formerly of Phoenix, now of New York, may seem like a surprise choice to headline this tour being there are other bands, namely main support Goatwhore, who have been around longer, have more albums out and seemingly more of a following. Whether or not the band is up for the challenge of closing down the show after the untamed beast that is Goatwhore remains to be seen. What is for sure though is that if this band is able to reproduce what they captured with their first ever full length album, 2008’s “In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns,” they’ll do just fine. Abigail Williams are also no strangers to playing with the big boys either having opened tours for such heavy weights as Enslaved and Dark Funeral. Gone are the metalcore elements that permeated their music though when they came through Hartford as an opener a few years back. The band has taken the path of pure symphonic black metal with the new album and the hope is that the atmosphere reflects the music this time around.

The aforementioned Goatwhore play the role of grizzled vets on this tour. 2009’s “Carving Out the Eyes of God” is the bands fourth full length album and second for Metal Blade Records. Fluently combining the essence of the first round of black metal bands (Venom & Celtic Frost specifically) with a thrash mentality and overt Satanic imagery and lyrics, Goatwhore are truly at the top of their game right now. Make no mistake that this band is also at the top of the USBM heap as well. Having already toured the U.S. in support of Amon Amarth earlier this year the band also scored an opening slot on the Obituary tour slated to batter the area in September. That’s an impressive run indeed.

Atlanta’s Daath are the most accessible band on this tour. Their newest album, “The Concealers” is a puree of technical death metal and metalcore which is a perfect concoction for kids just getting into metal or those who only dabble in it. It’s interesting to note that somehow this band and their management was able to work it out so that not one but two of the biggest metal labels in the world, Roadrunner and Century Media have a hand in the production and promotion of their albums. The band’s name is Hebrew for “knowledge” so maybe they know something the rest of us don’t.

Los Angeles’ Abysmal Dawn are the closest thing to traditional death metal on this tour. Although the band hearkens back to an earlier time when death metal ruled the American underground there are certainly elements of thrash and black metal prevalent throughout their newest release and their sound is much more progressive than your atypical death metal band. Of all the bands on this tour Abysmal Dawn has the biggest boom or bust factor. The recorded material, especially their Relapse Records debut “Programmed to Consume,” is well above average and if they can pull it off in a live setting night after night this tour has the potential to be a springboard to bigger and better things.

Hailing from the city arguably most conjoined with death metal, Tampa, FL, Success Will Write Apocalypse Across The Sky combine elements of grind and noise with traditional death metal to create a sound that would allow them to be just as comfortable opening for a band like Coalesce or Botch as they would for this tour. Make no mistake though, despite having possibly the longest band name in music history these guys get right to the point sonically with a brutal assault to the senses.  

My advice for those catching this tour when it hits The Webster Underground in Hartford on Saturday, July 25th is to go early and plan on staying late.  You won't be disappointed.