ABIGAIL WILLIAMS

Much-hyped Arizona lads putting a more pit-friendly face on black metal, basically welding together the style with Gothenburg thrash and a bit of hardcore. The results, while still fairly conventional and perhaps not deserving of the kudos they've so far received, do show scads of potential and lay a firm foundation for greatness to come.

Their mix of styles means ABIGAIL WILLIAMS can just use more of the tools in the extreme metal toolbox — overbearing keyboards that might seem out of place in thrash are fine here, as are bits of clean vocals. The busy Swedish riffing keeps things moving at a frenzied clip — the band seems to be more comfortable at a thrashing tempo than messing around with slower tempos or blast beats. One minute they'll be full-on symphonic black metal, as on the intro to "Watchtower", the next they'll pull off a melodic metalcore chorus "From a Buried Heart" right after a verse of blistering, blasting thrash.

It all comes together best in opener "From a Buried Heart", indisputably the best and most interesting song on "Legend". It combines all the band's influences into one smooth, accessible cocktail, and it happens to be catchy as all hell to boot. Elsewhere, the other songs are a bit more skewed to the black metal side of things — not so bad on the frenetic "Processions of the Aeons", but the middle songs could perhaps use a little more thrash to leaven those syrupy keyboards.

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS are definitely off to a good start, and while their combining of the basic building blocks of a few metal sub-genres may not be wildly revolutionary, it makes for quite an enjoyable listen, and marks the band as one to watch.