Review by Rexorcist for Abigail Williams - In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns (2008)

This debut album is basically what would happen if a bunch of metalheads discovered real extremities for the first time, decided that Born of Osiris was just as good as Emperor, and then thought they would be the coolest thing on Earth if they decided to mash the two.  Well, they didn't end up the coolest thing on Earth, but it's not that bad of a debut.

The most important thing to keep in mind are the veterans these guys got to help with the album, notable a couple of metal veterans: Emperor drummer Tryn, and metal producer James Murphy.  High grade celebs.  The worst thing to keep in mind is the constant deathcore-infusion, which the symphonics can't quite drown out.  The writing itself is pretty good, going into a lot of complex and unpredictable parts while maintaining a constant vibe.  But with the album always switching between another blast beat, violins and the bare essentials that symphonic black metal needs, it pretty much becomes 46 minutes of the same thing; it's variations of the same song that gradually get less original and slightly worse overtime.  Now this doesn't mean the album eventually sucks.  In fact, the first two songs: The World Beyond and Acolytes, are actually very good.  Acolytes is almost incredible in a way, largely due to a keen awareness of what extreme metal needs to sound like.  Obviously, we have our two veterans to thank for that.  But eventually, the album bears the same originality as any Fleshgod Apocalypse album.  Thankfully, there's one shining example of great writing on side B: Empyrean.  That song really carries some of the Emperor spirit and is one of the heavier tracks.  I might even say it's my favorite song on that album.

So, starts of great, finishes decent, has instances of brilliance.  Stays brutally heavy throughout, and beautifully produced.