If 2011 goes down as the “year black metal broke,” 2012 might as well go down as the “year second-rate bands copped the formulas of those who broke it.”
Prominent among these bandwagon-hopping releases is “Becoming,” the third LP by Abigail Williams, an American band that has resided in a different city (and a different black metal subgenre) on each album.
After flirtations with melodic and symphonic black metal, the band is now attempting to dive into the kind of earthen atmospherics that Wolves in the Throne Room have made famous.
They don’t fail entirely, but the disingenuousness of the project permeates every note. Opener “Ascension Sickness” is the high point, and even its strongest moments sound like imitations of the lesser works of Agalloch.
Closing track “Beyond the Veil” perfectly encapsulates the hubris that’s all over “Becoming.” It’s 17 minutes long, and it feels every second of it. The band’s songwriting doesn’t reach its ambition on this song or any other on the record.
If their next record sounds like Liturgy, don’t be surprised.
Don’t expect to be impressed, either.
'Becoming' the archetype
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