Label: Revalve Records

Date: February 26th, 2021

It is my honest opinion that there are musical pieces that should not be evaluated, reviewed, compared or otherwise judged. These should simply be listened. With open mind and full appreciation of music as such, without delving into what’s metal, what’s punk, pop, symphonic, folk… It is precisely with these kinds of releases that the reviewers worldwide have the most trouble with. Being a reviewer myself, I do hate writing about such albums, but the truth is that in many cases these records turn out to be marvelous examples of magical properties music possesses.

It is with something similar that I’m dealing with now. Abyssian is an Italian quartet and “Godly” is their second full length album. After five years of silence. To make it easier on me (and my ilk) the Italians tried to dub their own genre specification. “Atlantean dark / doom metal”, that is. A bit confusing declaration, to say the least, but not completely inaccurate. “Godly” is a darkened offering, no question about it. Rising from the doom metal depths of Cathedral, St. Vitus and such, no doubt. But also taking all sorts of influences elsewhere. Mostly from similarly dark genres. Slight stoner condiment. Claustrophobic grunge backdrop. Psychedelic rock at its gloomiest. And multitudes of others that should be mentioned, but it would only lead deeper into confusion.

What is the conclusion? Well, I might just conclude by saying that “Godly” is quite an original dark and atmospheric musical project. Even if it takes elements from well-known and recognized styles, the music presented by Abyssian could easily be dubbed their own spawn. Somewhere upon the seventh spin of this album I got to think about a Bosnian band called Silent Kingdom and their recent album. Though Abyssian is missing the folkish motifs that the Bosnians use and are also using distorted guitars way more than Silent Kingdom on their latest record. Still, I get the somewhat similar feeling. Of course, it is a good thing for me personally, because I’m a big fan of the mentioned record.

However, who do I recommend “Godly”? Now that’s a tough one! And the one correct answer should be that it is an album made for open-minded music fans. Not just metal, though metalheads are the obvious target audience, but music fans in general. If you enjoy darkness oozing out of the speakers, this is for you. Whether you are looking for Cathedral, My Dying Bride, Sentenced, or the darker side of The Cure, Placebo or such. Enjoy now and thank me later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep6hw6ycsPo