The upwardly curving trajectory at which the UK Black Metal entity Abduction have honed their style and pushed their boundaries in just nine years continues to impress me. From a mysterious one-man project founded and masterminded by A|V back in 2016 to where they now stand with their fifth studio release, Existentialismus, which takes things to a whole new level.
Abduction – Existentialismus (Candlelight Records)
Release Date: 21 February 2025
Words: Jools Green
Existentialismus is an album that, for the first time, was recorded by Abduction as a full band. This is a superb offering that is often a “lyrically emotionally complex and personal recording,” particularly so on the more immersive pieces like Truth Is As Sharp A Sword As Vengeance and the Razors Of Occam which are soaked in new levela of emotion and personal investment.
“The most obvious expansion is in the voice,” A|V told us. “I felt that vocally, I had more freedom to express the lyrics and messages with fewer genre leashes. Given the themes of pain, frustration, and fear involved, it made sense to convey that in its most natural state rather than performing to certain expectations. The vocals and lyrics are important to me, so I let them breathe and counterpoint the bands playing.”
Regarding Existentialismus, A|V says there is a danger of a character becoming a parody of itself “very often in art and music. I have always tried to evolve myself and the presentation of Abduction to closely align these artistic ideas with an ever-changing, ever-learning concept. This includes lyrics and the performance of the voice and the instruments.
“Musically, I wanted something more direct and with less ‘space’ in line with the frustration of the songs and the motivation to action. In previous works, I’ve overstated my own compulsion to grow and reach a certain point of spirituality beyond that of simply being. I felt that we are capable of some kind of epoch-defining alteration of consciousness.
“However, it has become clearer recently that this is probably just a pipe dream which we will never reach. In fact, it seems that the only potential defining character arc for the human race may simply be mutually assured destruction. Tragic and yet expected.
“How do I reconcile this reality with my responsibilities of family? I don’t. It is a constant pendulum that swings between preparing the best I can for a future I hope doesn’t come and ignoring it completely, surrounding myself with nature and staying away from the city as much as possible. The wisdom is knowing that you, in fact, know nothing at all.”
He continues that, “It’s inspired by the juxtaposition of this horrible post-truth era with its contradictions and the simple, metaphorical truths that began in ancient religions of the crumbling past. Somewhere between a biblical gospel and a Nietzschean nightmare. As a father, there’s a particular terror in seeing all that our grandfathers built, physically and morally, being torn apart and reduced to a commodity and wondering what kind of world my son will inherit.”
“I am by no means a philosopher – I desperately lack the patience,” A|V admits. “But my observations of the modern Western humane race have become particularly bleak, and this informs my lyrical writing process. Art as a reaction to life and experience.”
“This is laid out in the first Abduction track, A Legacy Of Sores, which posits that most of us here, in the current year, have become an alarming pairing of being both too sensitive and yet without any core beliefs to stand on. [‘Wet skin now paper thin, reveals a core of dust’] I think this is a mixture of a post-religious society and the acceleration of technology to the point at which its claws are deeply in us. Have you tried to live without a smartphone recently?
“I believe firmly in the wisdom that nothing good comes easy and that we will have to endure a certain level of pressure or be required to show restraint to gain anything worth having. This is echoed in many ancient cultures and religions worldwide and across aeons. The more you know, the less you know.
“I see little evidence of this in the modern world of entitlement and instant dopamine-charged reactionary thoughts and self-gratification processes. We seem to be throwing away all of our gratitude, all of our basic humanity in place of virtual itch-scratching constantly.
“Is it any wonder there is a mental health epidemic or skyrocketing suicide figures? Having moved recently back to the countryside of my childhood, I am constantly reminded of the stoicism and eternal patience of my elder family: the generation of the Industrial Revolution, who built walls, mills, tilled fields, and fetched water, mostly with their bare hands and without electricity. The generations of war and the constant threats to their meagre existence.”
He makes a lot of valid points here that I am sure many of us will resonate with.
Existentialismus makes a strong, bold statement with the opening piece, A Legacy Of Sores. The sheer power of its opening repeat, bolstered by a wave of driving riffs impacts you from the offset. The vocals here are deep and raw but delivered with more of a tormented edge the further into the track you get. The direction switching is fluid and the strength of determination behind the sound remains unflinching across the duration of the track.
Pyramidia Liberi delivers a crushing, all-engulfing sound. The mix of spoken elements alongside the raw blackened vocals, which are delivered with impressive power and protraction, build on this. Even in the subtle ebbs in pace, none of the power is lost. An absolute brute of a track, the elevated wave of leadwork towards the close adds more impact and intensity.
Opening on discordant riffs and sparce, drum rhythms melded with a spoken soundbite, Truth Is As Sharp A Sword As Vengeance is a majestically powerful piece. The extremes between the fierce driving passages and the more reflective segments are hugely dramatic. Yet it flows beautifully.
The range of voices employed here, clean but tormented vocals alongside harsh sung and shouted as well as an unnerving spoken delivery, is impressive, conveying those emotions of pain and frustration successfully with dramatic impact.
Blau Ist Die Farbe Der Ewigkeit is clearly a deeply philosophical piece. The title translates to Blue Is The Colour Of Eternity, given that blue is intimately associated with the concept of eternal life, symbolizing the soul’s immortality and the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth, with the belief by some that our existence transcends the confines of the physical realm, stretching beyond the boundaries of time and space.
Musically, it’s an all-encompassing storm of sound that engulfs you in waves of riffs and cavernous growls; the flow and direction switching is superbly slick. Imagine staring up into the blue beyond whilst all chaos swirls unrelentingly around you, and this is how this track makes me feel as I listen. It is magnificently dramatic.
The next piece, Razors Of Occam, vocalist A|V explains, “is a celebration of the back-breaking labour that our grandfathers and grandmothers endured over past century to build the houses and systems that maintain our (relative) safety and comfort here in the west.”
He quantifies this by quoting his lyrics from this piece, “There’s more honour in the last gasping breath, spilled forth from a dying old man’s chest, than in all the seas of all the tears the younger can conjure. For with one wish, they’d give it all away.”
I feel there’s a lot of credence to these words too. Musically, it is a hugely emotive and powerful piece. The haunting opening build eases you into a slow-paced, reflective melody with layers of clean, reflective vocals. This is quickly succeeded by a rapid switch in pace, harsher riffs and the deeper, raw, dramatically protracted vocals.
But, in the midst of this intense maelstrom, there is still that engaging melodic aspect. Again, there are slick but dramatic pace switches, and at the zenith of the piece, the meld of intense riffing, clean and harsh vocals reaches a heady intensity, which then drops to a rapid fade. A superb track.
Maintaining that intense and all-encompassing soundscape that has dominated this powerfully engaging release to the end is Vomiting At Baalbek, thanks to a heady mix of intense but varied riffing. The employment of a good range of vocal styles, including shouts, growls and powerful acidic protractions, is joined by dramatic pace switches and drops.
In the midst of this it still delivers a hugely engaging, subtly applied, melodic undercurrent alongside the sheer brutal power of the track’s delivery that grabs your attention and holds it transfixed from start to finish.
I have so much respect and admiration for both Abduction’s past offerings and their live delivery. Abduction are a Black Metal force to be reckoned with and A| V’s decision to record as a whole band as well as focus more closely on the vocals and lyrics has elevated Existentialismus to a whole new level of excellence.
This is a superbly powerful and breathtakingly engaging album.
The striking cover art by Julia Sobolevais is as thought-provoking as the album’s contents. For more details, visit Candlelight Records store – Products.
