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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)
®2007 Live-Metal.net
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