Abigail Williams - A Void Within Existence - review
Abigail Williams - A Void Within Existence - review
Band
Abigail Williams Album
A Void Within Existence Style
Atmospheric black metal Release date
July 18, 2025 Tracklist
01. Life, Disconnected02. Void Within
03. Nonexistence
04. Still Nights
05. Talk To Your Sleep
06. Embrace The Chasm
07. No Less Than Death
A review by
musclassia July 16, 2025
Maybe that shouldn’t be a shock; following the resounding success that was 2019’s Walk Beyond The Dark (an album that encompassed elements from several of their past releases while also offering plenty new), founder Ken Sorceron was once more left to find a whole new cohort of musicians to fill the ranks of Abigail Williams. This time around, he’s undergone something of an exchange program; after he joined Vale Of Pnath in 2020, that band’s own founder Vance Valenzuela became Abigail Williams guitarist in 2023, with Gabe Seeber signing on as drummer of both groups (although, confusingly, while Seeber is still listed as the band’s drummer on his social media, Mike Heller is credited with performing drums once more on this new album, presumably because he didn’t already have enough going on in 2025). Just as Vale Of Pnath’s sound underwent transformation on their newest release, so too does A Void Within Existence depart from its predecessor (in fairness, we were warned).
Walk Beyond The Dark, while perhaps not being meloblack outright, did have its fair share of melodicism, whether in the blackgaze tones of “Ever So Bold” or atmo-black gloom of “Black Waves”, which harked back to 2012’s Becoming. In contrast, although it is not devoid of melody, A Void Within Existence is not going to be mistaken as meloblack any time soon. Its extremity does not compete with the dissonant harshness of 2015’s The Accuser, but this is possibly otherwise the most extreme record that the band have produced. However, this isn’t a case of Abigail Williams converging with Vale Of Pnath; this is not a death metal album (even when factoring in the lower guitar tones used in songs such as “Life Disconnected”), it’s just a more sinister black metal album than the record that came before.
The reduced emphasis on hookiness is evident right from the start, with “Life Disconnected” opening with dissonant chords and subsequently delving into bleak mid-tempo trudging. There’s a decently sinister atmosphere to the song, but I must admit that, set against the emphatic and engrossing “I Will Depart”, it lacks a bit in impact at the front end of the record. The rolling double bass, blasts and sharp black metal riffs that get “Void Within” going are immediately more gripping, and feel more inherently recognizable as the work of Abigail Williams. It starts off with fury and yet for a while seems to somehow keep getting more ferocious; that said, it takes a very effective detour in a slower and gloomier direction from around the midway mark, demonstrating the band’s effectiveness at different intensities.
With what I wrote earlier, it shouldn’t be assumed that the record is devoid of melody, as it certainly has its moments. These are more so later on, but “Nonexistence”, which takes its foot off the pedal a bit, has meandering guitar leads and more uplifting arpeggiated chords that deliver a different tone to the tracks preceding and following it; it’s nice to hear some of these brighter and cleaner textures, particularly as it is immediately followed by “Still Nights”, a 4-minute near-constant barrage of blasts and dissonance. It’s an exciting song, but it does really emphasize the change in approach compared with previous outings, as there is very little to latch onto in this track amidst the ensuing devastation.
Hooks and memorability are in unusually short supply for an Abigail Williams album, and while I do appreciate the direction that Sorceron & co have opted for on A Void Within Existence, it does seem to play away from some of the project’s established strengths. One track that has managed to capture my attention on pretty much every playthrough is “Talk To Your Sleep”, which acts as the transition between the record’s first half of shorter tracks all below 6 minutes and its second half filled with songs over 7 minutes. Signalling this shift is an emphatic rolling groove that strides forth imposingly, to subsequently be lit up by scintillating harmonized tapping, and later stirring strings in the song’s melancholic bridge.
“Talk To Your Sleep” is the album’s peak for me, but the closing trio of songs generally make good use of their increased runtime to outshine the record’s first half. “Embrace The Chasm” sees a long-awaited return of keyboards to the sound of Abigail Williams, and balances fierce blasting aggression with slower, warmer and catchier motifs, while “No Less Than Death” completely eschews the extremity that has largely come before it in favour of a far calmer, cleaner and more mournful approach. Elements of the song, particularly the initial guitar leads, bear more than a faint resemblance to Agalloch, while an album that previously had altogether ignored clean vocals suddenly brings them right to the fore, before allowing a prolonged guitar solo to escalate things to a fitting climax to the song and record.
A Void Within Existence is a very accomplished album, and one that is recognizably the work of Abigail Williams in spite of their ever-changing approach. Still, coming straight after the band’s most well-rounded and arguably strongest effort to date, its relative lack of memorability is a bit of a drawback, and one that, for me, holds it back from being their crowning achievement to date.
Written on 16.07.2025 by
Written on 16.07.2025 by
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