Band: Abigail Williams
Album title: In The Absence Of Light
Label: Candlelight
Distributor: Candlelight
Release date: 27/09/2010 Release: CD

Abigail Williams can call themselves true leaders in the American black metal genre. They prove that black metal is not only an export product of Norway. So are the States now.
In The Absence Of Light is Abigail William’s second full-length, although the band already exists for more than five years. This is due to constant line-up changes and even a short split-up. Luckily, the band never lost sight of what they had to do: making black metal music.
Abigail Williams definitely knows which additional sounds are important in a black metal song: church bells, in Hope The Great Betrayal, and ravens, in What Hell Awaits Me. These sounds add something more sinister to the album.
Sorceron, the vocalist and guitarist, said that In The Absence Of Light is much more guitar-driven than the previous album. This can definitely be heard in the first song and in The Mysteries That Bind The Flesh. These songs sound like the traditional black metal songs, as if they had been written in Norway. In the second song though, Final Destiny Of The Gods, I have the impression that it is more drum-driven.
In Death Comes The Great Silence is a real wall of sound and it also has more melody than the other tracks, so has the song An Echo In Our Legends, which is my personal favorite song on In The Absence Of Light.
This a beautiful new addition to the black metal discography. In The Absence Of Light proves that black metal is like having dinner in a three-star restaurant: less is more !

92/100

Nick Tronckoe.