Well, well… Listen to the always-evolving ABIGAIL WILLIAMS' third studio album ‘Becoming’ in its beautiful entirety here (BandCamp) or below. Clocking in at 55 minutes in length, the next chapter in the ABIGAIL WILLIAMS' history of sonic transformation comes out January 24th, 2012 on Candlelight Records:
“ ‘Becoming’ ushers in a provocative new chapter for the adventurous band. Truly the band's most expressive and complicated, this album is one unexpected ride for already long-time fans of the band but more so for those that are new to their sonic palette. Let no presumption of past dictate - this is simply a record to be heard. ‘Becoming’ features vocalist and guitarist Sorceron [Ken, also the album's producer], guitarist Ian Jekelis, and studio drummer Zach Gibson (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER),” [appeals the press release:]
ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: Becoming
The group which is named after the infamous accuser who set the even more infamous Salem Witch Trials into motion, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, formed in 2005 in Phoenix, Arizona. Operating from Los Angeles these days, the band's founder Ken Sorceron remains the only original bandmember. In 2006, when metalcore, hardcore, and screamo dominated the United States, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS recorded their Nordic-influenced EP ‘Legend’ and released it via Candlelight Records in 2007:
“ABIGAIL WILLIAMS sound like a Nordic death metal/black metal band that just happens to like metalcore, hardcore, and screamo, and their variety of influences come together in an appealing way,” [thought Alex Henderson, AllMusic] “And while ‘Legend’ doesn’t quite fall into the melodic death metal and symphonic black metal categories, this is a disc that - for all its ferocity and viciousness - is not without nuance or complexity,” [more here]
According to Sorceron, the group went on a “pre-meditated hiatus” in 2007; he was nevertheless joined by Mike Wilson on guitar, Thomas G. Plaguehammer on bass, Ashley Ellyllon on keyboards, Trym Torson, Sam Paulicelli and Zach Gibson on drums (and I’m sure I forgot to mention a couple of important others) when he recorded the group's debut full-length, 2008's ‘In The Shadow Of A Thousand Suns’, with producer James Murphy. The album reached position number 35 on the Billboard's “Top Heatseekers” chart. Slimmed down to three (Sorceron, guitarist Ian Jakelis and drummer Ken Bedene), ABIGAIL WILLIAMS moved further away from the symphonic black metal sound and injected their next release, 2010's album ‘In The Absence Of Light’, with intricate touches of classic and thrash metal:
“Disclaimer: all highly subjective claims accusing ABIGAIL WILLIAMS of being symphonic black metal poseurs will be ignored in the course of this review. Deal with it,” [started off his review of the album my favorite AllMusic reviewer Eduardo Rivadavia] … “Many observers believed this style [referring to the orchestral black metal sound featured on the group's debut full-length] owed way too much to England's widely reviled (and contradictorily wildly successful) CRADLE OF FILTH, whose perceived opportunism (and, yes, frequently crap music) made them black metal's ultimate sellout poster boys, but it’s simply not fair to condemn ABIGAIL WILLIAMS to the very same death sentence so soon - especially in light of the band's much improved second album, 2010's ‘In The Absence Of Light’, which reveals a perfectly competent and oftentimes quite engaging collision of vicious aggression and ambitious songwriting grandeur,” [more here. Listen to the full album here (BandCamp) or below, and buy the thing:]
ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: In The Absence Of Light
ABIGAIL WILLIAMS features: Ken Sorceron – guitar and vocals, Ian Jekelis- guitar and Zach Gibson - drums
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