After a long wait of anticipation surrounding hype for future material to be announced, United Kingdom’s blackened symphonic deathcore band A Night In The Abyss have finally returned after a five year gap between their 2016 debut full-length Necropolis which in my opinion was one of the absolute finest albums in the genre I’ve ever heard have resurrected from the grave to release the latest offering through Hollowed Records being the next chapter in their catalog with 2021’s EP Begotten. If you thought Necropolis was perfect, well this EP stepped up massively in terms of consistency, songwriting, deliverance, technical proficiency, professionalism and they’ve made the most detailed and effective releases in their career to date. If you took everything from Necropolis and created the production to be as bleak, darkened, foggy and very atmospheric driven and turn the volume to max volume possible, Begotten is a huge improvement over anything they’ve ever done musically in their catalog.
Musically, this band surely is influenced by many bands in the deathcore genre including She Must Burn and Neverbloom era of Make Them Suffer to the symphonic black metal signatures of Dimmu Borgir from a vocal standpoint this album is full of captivation, creativity and originality which I have to give massive credit for these guys since they were able to study long and hard making this a absolute behemoth of a listen beginning to end. Now, I won’t go over the lyrical content based on what this album is about from a narrative perspective but rest assure they take many elements of anti-christianity, religious metaphors, betrayal and mankind which is really something that most bands for their style aren’t well known or discussed much in the deathcore scene but I love how they incorporated various genres of music whether it’s the maddening black leads, to the twisted symphonic atmospheres and little hint of technical flourishes, songs like Suspended By A Thread and the title track for instance brings a much more darker, echoing, demonized and theatrical measures which reminded me of something that Lorna Shore or Carach Angren would use due to the enormously emotional and miserable effects this EP demonstrated has made my jaw floored to the ground.
But in retrospect, A Night In The Abyss have matured and developed a amalgamation and stalwart directory approach taking everything from past releases and became a much more methodical and meaningful experience which surely impressed me immensely just how magnificently crafted this 24 minute journey flew by within minutes. Begotten promises to be the most ferocious and favorable releases of 2021 and truth be told this will leave you speechless and your brain be drained and confused to see one of my absolute favorite deathcore bands be talked about as the years go by.
Overall Score: 9.5/10
Review by Jake Butler
