Abigail Williams—named after one of the first accusers in the Salem Witch Trials made infamous by Arthur Miller’s The Crucible—play a weird kind of black metal with American metalcore tendencies. Their recorded sound is bolstered by epic clean piano lines and majestic orchestrations; unfortunately, both times I have seen them live, their keyboardist was nowhere in sight and they relied on samples for her parts. Nevertheless, this past Wednesday they put on a great show to a thin but enthusiastic crowd at Jaxx. With just one recently released full-length album and an older EP to their name, their headlining set was short, but still satisfying. I’d really like to see them with a live keyboardist though.
The bill included four other touring bands in varying strains of death metal and deathcore, plus three locals. I suppose when it comes to bands this deep in a niche, you need a ton of them together to be able to justify a national tour. Aside from Abigail Williams, I enjoyed The Breathing Process and Conducting From the Grave the most. The Breathing Process have a live keyboardist… apparently I like live keyboards in death metal. Makes sense, I’m a prog fan after all.
The Breathing Process:
Conducting From the Grave:
