Abduction – Existentialismus (Review)

This is the fifth album from Abduction, a UK black metal band.

So, Abduction played this album live in full way back in February of 2024. It has been what feels like an age since then, so it’s great to finally get my grubby paws on it. And do you know what? This is some seriously good stuff.

Existentialismus is a record that manages to walk its own path through the black metal hordes, simultaneously being one of them and something of a higher purpose. It’s modern black metal that’s learned its lessons well from ancient sources. The classic influences have been corrupted by progressive, psychedelic, and post-blackened elements, but without losing any of the fury of the core style. I wouldn’t really describe Existentialismus as a progressive or post-black metal album though, but you can feel the fingertips of these subgenres brushing delicately over parts of the material.

The songs are dark and malevolent invocations. Each one is a hymn to tension, violence, and malignant despair. As an album it has an emotive weight and presence that outstrips many of the band’s contemporaries. This comes from not only the well-considered songwriting, but also from the vocalist’s expressive and expansive performance; a range of vocals are used, from the gruff and harsh, to the clean and plaintive.

The guitars are rimmed with icy hatred and haunted by nightmare portents. Alongside powerful riffs they also deal in richly malefic atmosphere, allowing the music to benefit from both. As such, the songs are shaped by both mood and aggression, blurring the limes between the two to produce a record of potent impact. Existentialismus has an esoteric quality that speaks of the arcane, infusing the music with a deep aura of the otherworldly.

It’s as if Abduction have managed to bottle a particularly toxic cocktail of chaos, despair, and bleak hunger for meaning, and then downed it all in a fit of self-destructive catharsis. That’s what Existentialismus is, and that might be why it’s so bloody good.

Essential listening.