Abigail Williams

Tómarúm – Ash in Realms of Stone Icons Review

By Kenstrosity on May 2, 2022 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Progressive Metal, Technical Death Metal, 69 comments

“We as a community speak often of defining and categorizing genres, but sometimes a promo comes along that legitimately challenges those definitions. Atlanta, Georgia’s Tómarúm received a generic “black metal” tag from Prosthetic Records’ PR team, and it falls short as a descriptor for what Tómarúm play. As you’ll surely deduce after giving debut album Ash in Realms of Stone Icons even just one spin, this nascent two-piece perform forbidden alchemy with myriad metallic ores, smelting a writhing, metamorphic amalgamation. It’s that very transmogrification that not only makes this album difficult to categorize but also exciting and satisfying to experience.” Pigeon holes don’t come easy.

Non Est Deus – Impious Review

By Carcharodon on March 3, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, 29 comments

“It’s fair to say that excitement was running high when I got the promo for Non Est Deus’ third full-length, Impious. Not, I admit, because I was actually familiar with the first two LPs—this has since been rectified—but because of the German man behind Non Est Deus known as Noise. Why? Well, Noise is also the man behind Kanonenfieber, which produced my 2021 AOTY in Menschenmühle.” Unholy Noise.

The Breathing Process – Labyrinthian Review

By Dear Hollow on October 22, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Deathcore, 12 comments

“A phenomenon risen in the last decade is the concept of “blackened deathcore.” While Winds of Plague’s cheesy keyboard licks copied and pasted atop chug-happy deathcore is business as usual, it wasn’t until bands like Make Them Suffer and Abigail Williams cranked up the moody -core brutality with black metal tropes in songwriting, drumming, and keys. More recently represented by bands like Lorna Shore or Mental Cruelty, blackened deathcore (if you accept it as a style) has become one of those quasi-sub-genres that fuses the oft-maligned “scene-core” and those of the “trve” style – a trve clvsterfvkk if you will. Quietly riding the wave is collective The Breathing Process, whose string of releases have contributed in small ways to this weird-ass style.” I see a mall kid and I want to paint him black.

Idolatria – Tetrabestiarchy Review

By Dear Hollow on August 31, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 13 comments

“Being a black metal fan entails crankiness. It seems there are more critics and black metal TSA waiting in the wings than any other metal subgenre, just lurking, waiting to hit each new album with a slap of humility – some of it deserved, some of it not. No one’s ever happy, as no release will be raw enough, noisy enough, unlistenable enough, “they have a Facebook and a Bandcamp and don’t exclusively sell cassettes, are you fucking kidding me.”” The fine line between hate and kvlt hate.

Vassafor – To the Death Review

By Dear Hollow on August 6, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 13 comments

“The band sport a Mitochondrion or Adversarial styled take on death/black metal with a thrashy assault-heavy relentlessness combined with eldritch melodies and passages of doomy ominousness. These New Zealanders laid it on thick with 2012’s double LP The Obsidian Codex, expertly balancing relentless blackened death with ritualistic atmosphere and dense doom to create an experience that felt far shorter than its immense hour-and-thirty-five-minute runtime suggested. Enter 2017’s Malediction, which wasn’t… that. While offering a “shorter” listen at fifty-four minutes, it never managed to truly escape the doomy drudgery and wallowed in uneventfulness for nearly an hour. Enter 2020’s To the Death.” Death be not quick.

Horn – Mohngang Review

By Dear Hollow on May 23, 2020 in Reviews, Black Metal, Folk Metal, 24 comments

“It’s neat seeing a progression of an artist across a project’s discography. From Anathema’s death/doom to prog-rock stylings, Ahab’s crushing funeral doom to, like, pretty funeral doom, to the deathcore to symphonic black metal to straight-up black metal of Abigail Williams, it shows true growth and maturity to acknowledge the past while stepping into the future. Today’s is German act Horn, comprised of sole member Nerrath, a prolific pagan black metal act with two demos, eight full-lengths, and an EP since 2002.” Change is in the air.

Abigail Williams – Walk Beyond the Dark [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]

By Dr. A.N. Grier on January 17, 2020 in 2019, American Metal, Black Metal, Blood Music, Reviews, Things You Might Have Missed 2019, Black Metal, 67 comments

“Manned by the dark mind of Ken Sorceron, Abigail Williams has come a long way in the last decade. Surviving lineup changes, relocations, and changes in musical directions—as well as fandom—Sorceron pushes on, refusing to settle on a path created for him by others’ expectations. Up ahead is another bend in this path. So, take my hand and let’s Walk Beyond the Dark together.” Abby normal

Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2019

By Dr. A.N. Grier on January 1, 2020 in 2019, Blog Posts, Lists, 101 comments

“Name another site out there with writers hiding behind silly monikers whom you know better than your best friends. Name a site you dared to lean on, pouring your heart out in the comments, getting positive and uplifting responses when you needed them most. Name a site you’ve spent as much time debating, loving, and sharing music as you have on AMG. You can’t.” Truth telling.

Abigail Williams – The Accuser Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on October 28, 2015 in 2015, American Metal, Black Metal, Candlelight Records, Post-metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Post-Metal, 43 comments

“Few bands have ever achieved the feat of satisfying their loyal fan-base one day and pissing them off the next. And all within a single decade. Having never been a fan of the early days of Abigail Williams, I avoided the apparent “hardship” many fans went through come the release of 2012’s Becoming.” We hardly even knew ya, Ms. Williams.

I Am the Trireme – Gnosis: Never Follow the Light Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on June 26, 2015 in 2015, American Metal, Black Metal, HPGD Productions, Metalcore, Reviews, Black Metal, Metalcore, 30 comments

“Electing to join the I Am the Wooden Object Club before The Table Himself even did, I Am the Trireme’s name can be described as “I am the Phoenician, ancient Greek, or Roman naval vessel with three rows of oars.” Luckily they didn’t pick that one, but in the spirit of needlessly long names, they’ve called their first full-length Gnosis: Never Follow the Light. We know right off the bat that these guys can produce pretentious sounding names for things, but that’s not what we’re here for; we’re here to see what they bring to the Hetfield musically.” We are also the table. And the oar bench.