Album Review: Abduction – A l’Heure du Crépuscule (Finisterian Dead End)

Influenced by artists like Dissection and Primordial, French black-metal group Abduction was formed in 2006. In 2016, the group comprised by Guillaume Fleury (guitars), François Blanc (vocals), Mathieu Taverne (bass) and Morgan Velly (drums), released their first album ‘Une Ombre régit les Ombres’.

Two years later, they are are back with their second album, ‘A l’Heure du Crépuscule’ and it is set for release on March 23th 2018 via Finisterian Dead End.

An unusual listen, A l’Heure du Crépuscule is not your conventional black metal album, instead going for a more progressive & melodic edge. An early clue is that opener, Sous les Cendres et la Pierre is a second short of 14 minutes long.

The guitar melodies and soft drum taps that take up the first two minutes serve as an intro before a more recognisable black metal sound takes over. It’s a hefty switch in direction and doesn’t sit to well initially.

Just as the mind adjusts to the heavier side it screeches to a halt returning to the melody found at the start for just a few seconds. This happens several times throughout the track making for a bit of a disjointed listen unfortunately. Neither the melodic or the heavy moments are bad, they both offer contrasting takes on a modern black metal sound but they struggle together.

Thanks to a much shorter run-time, A L’heure du Crépuscule is an improvement offering ferocious heaviness with a soaring epic-ness running throughout like a vein.

Unfortunately Abduction lose their way yet again with the messy Souvenir de Lierre. A track that has little direction & brings uninspired vocals to the forefront. The injections of heaviness & pace lifts things briefly but the unsatisfying melodic mush is a bit distracting.

La Grande Illusion goes some way to pulling things back around with a nice opening build & some hefty black metal work but still suffers from the shifts that see it lose momentum.

A difficult album, one that has many high points but gets bogged down by imagination running a little too wild. At times it’s just hard to really immerse yourself with the constant shifts in tone.

Abduction – A l’Heure du Crépuscule Full Track Listing:

1. Sous les Cendres et la Pierre
2. Les Visiteurs du Soir
3. A L’heure du Crépuscule
4. Souvenir de Lierre
5. La Grande Illusion
6. Les Ailes du Temps

You can order the album via Finisterian Dead End here and earlier releases via Abduction’s Bandcamp. Find out more/keep up to date via the band’s website, Facebook Page and check out the video below!