Tracklist
1. I
2. The World Beyond
3. Acolytes
4. A Thousand Suns
5. Into the Ashes
6. Smoke and Mirrors
7. A Semblance of Life
8. Empyrean: Into the Cold Wastes
9. Floods
10. The Departure
Produced by metal guru James Murphy (former guitarist for Death and Testament), the latest 10-track presentation by American symphonic black metal troupe Abigail Williams may resonate with the corpsepainted cadence and sophisticated conviction of the bands it strives to emulate, but overall its unavoidable gloss outshines the soulless despair it tries to convey. While some may disregard this squad as pandering to their peers or merely as an imitation of the real thing, songs like "Floods" and "Acolytes" do a smashing job of whipping up the menacing malevolence necessary to stir the grimmest of hearts while "The World Beyond" blasts through a blizzard of death growls, piercing shrieks and Emperor-esque guitar runs to garner some adulation. Yet this disc comes off a bit too clean (perhaps due to being a bit overwrought with piano and synths) to really muster up that intangible diabolical nature needed for this style of music to reach bombastic levels.
