Abduction – Black Blood

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From Bandcamp, “Formed in 2016 as a shadowy single-man entity, ABDUCTION have made astonishingly fast progress, carving a fearsome reputation for themselves as a standout act in an increasingly crowded Extreme Metal scene. “Black Blood” draws both from the band’s roots and new inspirations. Their distinctive qualities have also earnt them a place on the roster of one of Extreme Metal’s most famous labels, Candlelight Records, a definite milestone.” The album has six songs.

“Kernos Crown” is the first. The opening tones are cold and solemn, followed by a double bass drum attack. The vocals are pretty standard FWOBM influenced, although there is some variation of whispered gutturals as well. “Dismantling the Corpse of Demeter” is another slow and dissonant grind with plenty of harrowing elements to support the sound. It revels in the cold, sober sound throughout, until the end, when there is a nifty ambient passage. I wish it were longer, however. “Plutonian Gate” is a much longer song. The opening tones are a bit psychedelic and there are clean vocals mixed in with the harsh ones. It doesn’t take long for the more traditional Black Metal elements to come in, but they are desolate the hopeless. There is plenty of room to develop the sound in this song, and the band does a pretty nice job of doing so. There is a lot going on in the song.

“Lightless at the Grand Conjunction” is another depressive offering, with equal does of anger. There is a longer ambient pause before the half-way mark, like the song is re-loading for another attack. It re-loads, but with terrible sounds, almost as if the subject area is haunted. “A Psylacybic Death” is a totally dejected sound, with harrowing moans and wails of the tortured. The sound is loosely organized but mostly an exercise in the horrible things that can happen to a person when he dies. “In Exaltation of the Supreme Being” closes the album. I assume they are not talking about God. It’s a hearty and hastier sound, where some of the depressive elements take a back seat to the dark ritual. After the half-way mark, however, they return in the form of cold piano notes.

What I liked most about the album was the cold, depressive tones to go along with the thickness and anger of Black Metal. The colder tones can be felt in your bones, and the band worked hard to push this sound to the listener. The angry tones are also just as present, and it’s the balance between the two that makes the album a solid listening experience. This is just a bit off the beaten path of traditional Black Metal.

Songwriting: 7
Musicianship: 7
Memorability: 7
Production: 7