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By JEFF MAKI
Legend, the first official release from the Phoenix-based metal horde Abigial Williams, is an EP featuring five songs of blackened death metal mayhem. This is like nothing that has emerged from the United States. The desert that is Phoenix, Ariz., certainly hasn't seen anything like this ever before. To this writer, this sounds like the Cradle of Filth of old, back when they didn't concern themselves with mainstream attention. Their lone goal was to make extreme music that was evil as fuck. The high-pitched, tortured rasp from the vocals here is merely used for effect, as the album's lightning-fast pace intertwines with the vocal tracks. Deep death-metal bellows add to the intensity, while majestic keyboards provide layers and sound as if they are being played from atop a snow-covered mountain. If you listen carefully, you may hear three or four clean vocal parts. The band claims they are not content playing a specific style of metal and being pigeon-holed, but the face of Abigail Williams is black metal.
To sum things up, it doesn't remotely sound as if this album was played by human beings. Gargoyles, demons and other creatures of the underworld are more like it. I imagine if you were to ask an American Idol fan what their own personal hell would be, Abigail Williams' Legend would be a perfect fit. I felt as if I had lost blood flow to my extremities and my whole body became suddenly cold as I listened to this frostbitten fury.
Abigail Williams will be a new force of the extreme metal scene. They already opened a show for the legendary Emperor in July 2006 and the band plans to release its first full-length album in 2007 and embark on a tour opening for Dark Funeral and Enslaved.
Legend tracklisting:
1) From a Buried Heart
2) Like Carrion Birds
3) The Conqueror Wyrm
4) Watchtower
5) Procession Of the Aeons (exclusive demo)
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