Abigail Williams interview / music stream

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS

Interview with Ken Sorceron
By Haag & Horns

In a world of established black metal acts one group that have spread their influence worldwide, Los Angeles’ own ABIGAIL WILLIAMS have shown without a doubt that variation can be a very good thing. Their latest effort Becoming is nothing short of this stylistic vein as guitarist/vocalist Ken Sorceron elaborates, “Touring all those years and playing those types of songs over and over every night we had already begun experimenting with the atmosphere we created on Becoming by fusing it into our old songs and I think people were really taking note when they would see us play live.” No doubt this new effort captures the black metal roots of the group while also mixing it up a bit. See below for the rest from Ken. Hails.

How has sharing the road in support of MAYHEM? What were some highlights for you and the band?
It was a very enjoyable tour for us. MAYHEM, KEEP OF KALESSIN, HATE and WOE are all super cool dudes and we had a good time hanging out with them. Some of the highlights that come to mind include a thanksgiving day off party we had with all the bands which was a lot of fun and a truck stop party with WOE and ourselves in our van, which was pretty ridiculous.

Becoming, the group’s 5th studio release, bears semblance to the origins of the group on the Legend EP. How would you describe the evolution of the band’s music? And where as a composer do you draw influence from for the music of a record like Becoming?
Most of the songs on the Legend EP were written in 2004 and that EP did not even come out in the states until 2007 so by the time that stuff came out we were definitely over that sound considering those were basically early demo songs that we had from when we never thought anyone would ever hear of us. On Becoming I tried to just ignore the idea of what ABIGAIL WILLIAMS was and focused on what it could become because I probably would have lost interest otherwise. Touring all those years and playing those types of songs over and over every night we had already begun experimenting with the atmosphere we created on Becoming by fusing it into our old songs and I think people were really taking note when they would see us play live. As far as influences I’ve been influenced by anything from NEUROSIS, GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR!, PHILLIP GLASS, RUSSIAN CIRCLES, to even something like SKINNY PUPPY and of course our second wave Norwegian Black Metal influences.

When you listen back to Becoming, what kind of record do you hear? And what aspects of it really stick with you?
I hear a continuous piece of music. I really like the album I think it’s the best thing I’ve worked on so far. I like all the songs for different reasons. For the one song that has leaked online I’ve read a lot of comparisons to a certain band but I think when people hear the whole album that should go away. Not that the comparisons necessarily bother me because I like the band but I definitely think we did our own thing on this record.

How was the recording process with studio drummer Zach Gibson (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER)?
It was nice to get Zach back in the studio, he’s been a friend of the band since he stopped playing with us back in the early days and it just felt right to have him come in and play.

How did you tackle recording longer songs?
The same way we would tackle any song really. When we write longer songs I honestly don’t realize they are lengthy until I look at the time when it’s done. I used to write really long songs similar to the stuff on Becoming years before I started ABIGAIL WILLIAMS actually so it was really a return to an old style for me. It’s actually more challenging for me to write a concise song.

What’s your favorite track on Becoming? How does the record blend with itself in your opinion?
It’s hard for me to say but I think it’s a tie between “Ascension Sickness” and “Beyond The Veil” but the other songs aren’t far behind at all. Some of the songs go from Black Metal to Doom to, dare I say, even Post Rock moments but I think it all blends together nicely. These are merely just observations after the fact because during the writing we
did not think about genres.

Lastly, you guys have some killer tours coming up! What are most excited for and what keeps you guys thriving as a band these days?
I’m looking forward to touring with DARK FUNERAL and INQUISITION and we have some awesome stuff coming up with some great bands in Europe this spring/summer. The thing keeping us going right now is thinking about creating our next record. We already have some songs written actually.