Search - Abigail Williams :: Legend

This EP is awesome

The Blackest Incarnation | Richmond, VA | 05/29/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Legend is a symphonic black metal album that is full of sick riffs, sick drumming, sick keys, and awesome vocals for the most part. The only reason i didnt rate it five stars is due to the few "singing" parts which really aggravate me and take away from the brutality, but the screaming/death vocals are amazing and really bring life to each song. About the keys, they are awesome and are chilling at times and very atmospheric at others, 3:07 seconds into Conqueror Worm and you will know what i am talking about, plus Abigail Williams is a symphonic black metal band so keys are necessary. also Zach Gibson (The Black Dahlia Murder) and Bjorn (Vehemence) play Drums and Gutiar respectively which equals total awesomeness. I would buy this EP just for Watchtower, but all the songs rules and you are cheating yourself if you don't buy it because it is cheap and awesome. if this band ever releases a full length it is going to be amazing."

Blackened Death Metal

Joseph Fletcher | North Carolina, USA | 02/14/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Before I start my description of this album, it seems to me to be necessary to clear up a few things. First, this isn't Melodic Death metal. While "Death metal" certainly, the influence of Black metal on the band is such that the cord sequences and cords themselves make a categorization of this as "Melodic" impossible. Those who think that worshipping Satan is all there is to Black metal should pay attention to the music. Second, this band, as far as I am aware, has made no claims to being "Black" either. After all, evil sounding cords don't make a band Black metal.



The Review: I have one problem with this EP, musically. I can't seem to figure out where this band wants to go. The first three songs sound all little too much like Black Dahlia, while the last two songs are so close to Black metal, that they almost don't work with the other three -- almost. If you aren't a snob, which means you like Death and Black metal, you should really enjoy this band. While the production isn't excellent (it sounds like the audio tracks have had a little too much compression), the guitar work is solid and the drumming is insane. The keyboards keep things fresh, which is nice since the singing gets a little old by the third song "The Conqueror Wyrm" (which is just a crappy melody to boot).



The lyrics, while fitting right in with the whole "Epic" feel of this album, are a tad too epic for their own good: it sounds like the lyricist was trying WAY too hard to be taken seriously, which ironically means that I can't take him seriously.



Why then the four stars? The music IS epic, which I really like. "Watchtower," by far the best track, is almost too much to take in on the first listen. It also happens to be the most Black metal song on the EP. (What keeps it from being that is some of the guitar work in the middle section.)



I eagerly look forward to this band's future releases. I agree that you shouldn't expect Enslaved or Darkthrone when buying this, just like you shouldn't expect to taste an orange when you bite into an apple (which, indecently, never claimed to be an orange). I apologize to any Kvlt Black kids out there who read this as they undoubtedly couldn't grasp that simile."