Review by Alex on May 25, 2019.

Can't believe Hellfire Ocean Void by Demon Head was not given a greater spotlight when released. This occult doom metal record should be among the hailed metal albums released thus far in 2019, its blend of rock music, gothic/doom vocals and doom metal are one of the best mixes I've heard in a long time with regards to the sub-genre. I’ve heard other bands release records within this vein but was never fully sold on their output. 

Hellfire Ocean Void , has a palette of consistency, in that the doom metal element is never lost. I think most of it has to do with the vocals of Ferreira Larsen as they not only have a gothic/hard rock gruff, but also a bedeviled overtone pulling the strings of doom metal. Then there is the compositional makeup of the songs that utilize so much in creating different experiences, but still can be seen as being unified. Another element to point out are the 70's guitar tone that adds that occult feeling to the music. The 70's guitar is the best of any era, it is so rich that it resonates eternally, and to hear it used in a dominant way in the modern era is a pleasure to the ears. “The Night is Yours”, “In the Hour of the Wolf”, “The Labyrinth” all boast a classy yet rough-neck and Kabbalistic countenance; these songs are strong in showcasing the potency of each characteristic appearing on Hellfire Ocean Void. And that’s what you want on a record such as this, competent musicianship that transforms into great mental imagery, and given each song is composed with the aim of making each stand-apart from others, you are never greeted by lack of enthusiasm. 

The spirit of this record is strong; the replay-value is high on this 39-minute occult doom/hard rock trip. There is so much commune shared instrumentally that Hellfire Ocean Void feels like a conjuring of sorts by means of a joint expertise. From the smoky connotation of ‘Labyrinth” to the doomed-out elegance of “Mercury and Sulphur”, Hellfire Ocean Void safeguards the energy built through the experience. Sometimes the record gives off a very Blue Oyster Cult vibe particularly when the rock and roll element is pushed to front. Hence, the electric and acoustic guitar work of Gjerluff Nielsen and Gjerlufsen Nielsen is sensational in giving power to that reference, "Spectres" and "Fire of Unknown Origin" come to mind. As for the drumming, Jeppe Wittus plays as though he is beating to a ceremony being performed; vigor and suaveness are manifested through his performance and when combined with all other attributes of Demon Head’s performance on Hellfire Ocean Void, a great deal of stupor is brought into effect. 

So surprised that this record was not given more recognition, it runs laps around the chore-sounding efforts of other bands that have tried to create something of this magnitude. Hellfire Ocean Void has turned me into an instant addict of Demon Head's music, definitely going to listen to their past material. A follow-up record would be great when considering how sublime this is, would be good to see if the band can exceed Hellfire Ocean Void.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 

Review by Jerome on February 2, 2020.

Abigail Williams is one of those bands in the metal community that many people will have heard of but never really listened to. I can’t really blame them for it neither, Abigail Williams was a controversial band in the late 2000s. They attempted to mix symphonic black metal with metalcore at a time where any style with the word «core» induced vitriol from the most elitist of metalheads. As some were foreseeing this new mix of styles as the future of the American black metal scene, the term blackcore was dubbed. This must have been one of the shortest-lived terms since all mention of blackcore died right around the beginning of 2010. Of course the coming of both post-black and blackgaze to the larger American audience was largely responsible for the death of this up and coming subgenre, but it must also be said that around the same time, Abigail Williams, seen as the founder of the genre tried to sever its ties from their metalcore roots.

In fact, the word purge would probably be more accurate as the frontman, Ken Sorceron, kicked the whole band out, recruited new members and started anew. The metalcore elements were indeed absent in their next records In the Absence of Light and Becoming, however both were criticized as un-inspired versions of Dimmu Borgir and Wolves in the Throne Room respectively. To remedy to this situation, Ken did what what he does best, kicked the whole band out, recruited another set of musicians and moved on to a fourth album. This time Ken Sorceron asked all his new recruits to listen intently to "Under the Sign of Hell" from Gorgoroth, because that was the future for Abigail Williams. Their fourth full length album, The Accuser, came out and well… it was still considered a staler and un-inspired version of Norwegian black metal. A third purge is initiated, and Ken Sorceron decides to take matter into his own hands.

We are now in 2019, Abigail Williams just released their fifth full length album, and Ken Sorceron is credited as sole member of the band. It must have been a very soul searching three years between the releases of the Accuser and Walk Beyond the Dark as Ken Sorceron managed to contradict his critics and create an original black metal album. Abigail Williams went back to their symphonic and melodic roots, including a cello to add to the atmosphere of the album. The sound is very large giving all the space required to build up songs into epic proportions. The riffs displayed by Ken’s guitar work show how far he’s come with his black metal influences as he displays heavy palm mute riffs, aggressive tremolo picking and open chord melodies. The mix of these three styles of guitar play are most apparent in their opener 'I Will Depart'. 'Sun and Moon' enlarges their musical spectrum by adding post metal to their list of influences. 'Ever So Bold' must be their most aggressive song of the album but still manages to slip in a beautiful solo.

The highlight of the album must however be 'Black Waves' which has a similar song structure than epic black metal acts and it works well. This song structure can be described as the following: long and sorrowful intro accompanied by a folk instrument, build up to aggressive black metal, return to the folk instrumentation and finally crescendo where both black metal and folk instrumentation build up into a mix of beauty and aggression. I’ve always had a sweet spot for these types of structure. 'Into the Sleep' has this thick wall of sound from beginning to end and is also acting as a bridge from their first half of the album to the last half.

The last two songs, while not bad, do suffer from the same predicament that plagued Abigail Williams from the release of their second album. They both feel blend and un-inspired as the explosiveness and emotions seem to have disappear. The cello was kept through these songs but sounds off, as if it was forced in post-production. This sudden shift in both sound and feeling can be explained by the fact that both songs were originally written way before 2016 and were «reworked» as Ken said in an interview into Walk Beyond the Dark. That would most likely explain why the songs feel out of place.

The album as whole is a very creative work and is, without the shadow of a doubt, the best album produced by Abigail Williams. If the first half of the album is indicative of what is to come, then I am very hopeful for Ken’s future. It took many turns, a load of mediocre albums and a bunch of different musicians, but in the end Abigail Williams ended up finding its soul and coming up with a great musical direction.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Jerome on February 2, 2020.

Abigail Williams is one of those bands in the metal community that many people will have heard of but never really listened to. I can’t really blame them for it neither, Abigail Williams was a controversial band in the late 2000s. They attempted to mix symphonic black metal with metalcore at a time where any style with the word «core» induced vitriol from the most elitist of metalheads. As some were foreseeing this new mix of styles as the future of the American black metal scene, the term blackcore was dubbed. This must have been one of the shortest-lived terms since all mention of blackcore died right around the beginning of 2010. Of course the coming of both post-black and blackgaze to the larger American audience was largely responsible for the death of this up and coming subgenre, but it must also be said that around the same time, Abigail Williams, seen as the founder of the genre tried to sever its ties from their metalcore roots.

In fact, the word purge would probably be more accurate as the frontman, Ken Sorceron, kicked the whole band out, recruited new members and started anew. The metalcore elements were indeed absent in their next records In the Absence of Light and Becoming, however both were criticized as un-inspired versions of Dimmu Borgir and Wolves in the Throne Room respectively. To remedy to this situation, Ken did what what he does best, kicked the whole band out, recruited another set of musicians and moved on to a fourth album. This time Ken Sorceron asked all his new recruits to listen intently to "Under the Sign of Hell" from Gorgoroth, because that was the future for Abigail Williams. Their fourth full length album, The Accuser, came out and well… it was still considered a staler and un-inspired version of Norwegian black metal. A third purge is initiated, and Ken Sorceron decides to take matter into his own hands.

We are now in 2019, Abigail Williams just released their fifth full length album, and Ken Sorceron is credited as sole member of the band. It must have been a very soul searching three years between the releases of the Accuser and Walk Beyond the Dark as Ken Sorceron managed to contradict his critics and create an original black metal album. Abigail Williams went back to their symphonic and melodic roots, including a cello to add to the atmosphere of the album. The sound is very large giving all the space required to build up songs into epic proportions. The riffs displayed by Ken’s guitar work show how far he’s come with his black metal influences as he displays heavy palm mute riffs, aggressive tremolo picking and open chord melodies. The mix of these three styles of guitar play are most apparent in their opener 'I Will Depart'. 'Sun and Moon' enlarges their musical spectrum by adding post metal to their list of influences. 'Ever So Bold' must be their most aggressive song of the album but still manages to slip in a beautiful solo.

The highlight of the album must however be 'Black Waves' which has a similar song structure than epic black metal acts and it works well. This song structure can be described as the following: long and sorrowful intro accompanied by a folk instrument, build up to aggressive black metal, return to the folk instrumentation and finally crescendo where both black metal and folk instrumentation build up into a mix of beauty and aggression. I’ve always had a sweet spot for these types of structure. 'Into the Sleep' has this thick wall of sound from beginning to end and is also acting as a bridge from their first half of the album to the last half.

The last two songs, while not bad, do suffer from the same predicament that plagued Abigail Williams from the release of their second album. They both feel blend and un-inspired as the explosiveness and emotions seem to have disappear. The cello was kept through these songs but sounds off, as if it was forced in post-production. This sudden shift in both sound and feeling can be explained by the fact that both songs were originally written way before 2016 and were «reworked» as Ken said in an interview into Walk Beyond the Dark. That would most likely explain why the songs feel out of place.

The album as whole is a very creative work and is, without the shadow of a doubt, the best album produced by Abigail Williams. If the first half of the album is indicative of what is to come, then I am very hopeful for Ken’s future. It took many turns, a load of mediocre albums and a bunch of different musicians, but in the end Abigail Williams ended up finding its soul and coming up with a great musical direction.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Jerome on February 2, 2020.

Abigail Williams is one of those bands in the metal community that many people will have heard of but never really listened to. I can’t really blame them for it neither, Abigail Williams was a controversial band in the late 2000s. They attempted to mix symphonic black metal with metalcore at a time where any style with the word «core» induced vitriol from the most elitist of metalheads. As some were foreseeing this new mix of styles as the future of the American black metal scene, the term blackcore was dubbed. This must have been one of the shortest-lived terms since all mention of blackcore died right around the beginning of 2010. Of course the coming of both post-black and blackgaze to the larger American audience was largely responsible for the death of this up and coming subgenre, but it must also be said that around the same time, Abigail Williams, seen as the founder of the genre tried to sever its ties from their metalcore roots.

In fact, the word purge would probably be more accurate as the frontman, Ken Sorceron, kicked the whole band out, recruited new members and started anew. The metalcore elements were indeed absent in their next records In the Absence of Light and Becoming, however both were criticized as un-inspired versions of Dimmu Borgir and Wolves in the Throne Room respectively. To remedy to this situation, Ken did what what he does best, kicked the whole band out, recruited another set of musicians and moved on to a fourth album. This time Ken Sorceron asked all his new recruits to listen intently to "Under the Sign of Hell" from Gorgoroth, because that was the future for Abigail Williams. Their fourth full length album, The Accuser, came out and well… it was still considered a staler and un-inspired version of Norwegian black metal. A third purge is initiated, and Ken Sorceron decides to take matter into his own hands.

We are now in 2019, Abigail Williams just released their fifth full length album, and Ken Sorceron is credited as sole member of the band. It must have been a very soul searching three years between the releases of the Accuser and Walk Beyond the Dark as Ken Sorceron managed to contradict his critics and create an original black metal album. Abigail Williams went back to their symphonic and melodic roots, including a cello to add to the atmosphere of the album. The sound is very large giving all the space required to build up songs into epic proportions. The riffs displayed by Ken’s guitar work show how far he’s come with his black metal influences as he displays heavy palm mute riffs, aggressive tremolo picking and open chord melodies. The mix of these three styles of guitar play are most apparent in their opener 'I Will Depart'. 'Sun and Moon' enlarges their musical spectrum by adding post metal to their list of influences. 'Ever So Bold' must be their most aggressive song of the album but still manages to slip in a beautiful solo.

The highlight of the album must however be 'Black Waves' which has a similar song structure than epic black metal acts and it works well. This song structure can be described as the following: long and sorrowful intro accompanied by a folk instrument, build up to aggressive black metal, return to the folk instrumentation and finally crescendo where both black metal and folk instrumentation build up into a mix of beauty and aggression. I’ve always had a sweet spot for these types of structure. 'Into the Sleep' has this thick wall of sound from beginning to end and is also acting as a bridge from their first half of the album to the last half.

The last two songs, while not bad, do suffer from the same predicament that plagued Abigail Williams from the release of their second album. They both feel blend and un-inspired as the explosiveness and emotions seem to have disappear. The cello was kept through these songs but sounds off, as if it was forced in post-production. This sudden shift in both sound and feeling can be explained by the fact that both songs were originally written way before 2016 and were «reworked» as Ken said in an interview into Walk Beyond the Dark. That would most likely explain why the songs feel out of place.

The album as whole is a very creative work and is, without the shadow of a doubt, the best album produced by Abigail Williams. If the first half of the album is indicative of what is to come, then I am very hopeful for Ken’s future. It took many turns, a load of mediocre albums and a bunch of different musicians, but in the end Abigail Williams ended up finding its soul and coming up with a great musical direction.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10