UK black metal act Abduction have landed on the roster of one of extreme metal’s most famous labels, Candlelight Records, and are launching their first full length in over three years, Black Blood.
Despite a staggeringly prolific catalog since forming in 2017, the new, explosive Black Blood, is truly their most ambitious and rewarding release to date. Known for intense, ritualistic, and immersive performances, Black Blood pushes Abduction into new territories without straying from the core sound that broke them into the wider consciousness of both the UK and international black metal fanbases years ago.
A nightmarish yet entrancing listen from the hypnotically earnest and haunting opener "In Exaltation Of The Supreme Being", to the blend of uncompromising stripped down black metal and slower, almost post-metal textures of "Psylocybic Death", it is an intense and dynamic experience.
States A|V, the band’s vocalist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist: "Rather than continue to exist in the well-established sphere I’ve grown comfortable in, I decided that now is the time to take a leap into the unknown. Much like the narratives of the songs, there is both trepidation and elation. Time will be the judge…"
Black Blood will be released on October 21st.
Tracklist:
"Kernos Crown"
"Dismantling the Corpse of Demeter"
"Plutonian Gate"
"Lightless at the Grand Conjunction"
"A Psylacybic Death"
"In Exaltation of the Supreme Being"
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.
Signing to a respected overseas label almost instantly (Lithuania’s Inferna Profundus) before releasing 2017’s caustic debut To Further Dreams of Failure, the outfit have remained staggeringly prolific. Releasing two more full-lengths the next two years, 2018’s Crown of Curses and, in particular, 2019’s All Pain As Penance broke into the wider consciousness of both the UK and international black metal fanbases.
Performing alone in the early years – a rare sight, despite the many one-man bands in the genre – Abduction’s central protagonist A|V then expanded the band into a full live outfit, to better create intense, ritualistic and immersive performances, both at underground shows and larger festivals.
The intervening years have not seen the band slow in its output, with limited cassette-only releases, digital singles and a split with Canada’s Nocturnal Prayer seeing the light of day. The band has, however, gone for an unprecedented period without a full-length release… until now.
Cue the explosive Black Blood, Abduction’s most ambitious and rewarding album to date. Recorded – like its predecessor – by Ian Boult at Stuck on a Name Studios in Nottingham, this nightmarish yet entrancing listen is pushes Abduction into new territories without straying from their core sound. From the hypnotically earnest and haunting opener ‘In Exaltation of the Supreme Being’, to the expansive 11 minute epic ‘Plutonian Gate’, with its marked progressive and psychedelic overtones, to the blend of uncompromising stripped down black metal and slower, almost post-metal textures of ‘Psylocybic Death’, it is an intense and dynamic experience.
“I’m an avid listener of ‘raw’ black metal,” explains vocalist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist A|V, “particularly the way that unintentional noise and lack of clarity can draw you in and provoke the imagination. On the other hand, the evolution of what Abduction has become requires something less indecipherable. With this record, I’ve implied a greater story, without explicitly describing each chapter.”
Thus Black Blood draws both from the band’s roots and new inspirations. The fact that members of British black metal bands The Sun’s Journey Through the Night and Revenant Marquis appear is a welcome nod to where Abduction come from, yet the fact that the band are atypical for a UKBM act – no rousing odes to England or 90s Scandinavian formulas here – is perhaps their most precious attribute. 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.
