Some bands are capable of producing truly overwhelming, nightmarish sounds. Britain’s Abduction is definitely one of those bands. Abduction is the work of a solitary artist known simply as A|V, and will be releasing its third album, All Pain as Penance, on March 29 via Inferna Produndus Records.
On “Infinite Ancient Hexes,” Abduction goes for an atmosphere similar to contemporary black metal favorites like Mgła and UADA, along with the more recent output of Finland’s Behexen. It’s certainly pure black metal, but not in the sense of raw coldness. No, a more mysterious and disorienting feeling pervades this music. Abduction plays this style very effectively, in that it plays this sound in a way that captures an air of chaos and swirling spells of black magic, but also stays grounded enough for the listener to make out what’s going on.
Don’t get me wrong, echo and reverb are very important elements of great black metal. But you can be as “cavernous” as you want, dude, but it won’t make up for bad writing. Luckily, A|V has his songwriting chops down, perfecting the sound he began to develop on his two previous records (To Further Dreams of Failure and A Crown of Curses).
Check out the aptly named “Infinite Ancient Hexes” below:
