Music Review // Abiura "Hauntology"

https://abiura1.bandcamp.com/album/hauntology //

A slow, somewhat haunted feeling guitar drone begins to fill your ears.   There is an eerie sense about this, which makes it feel like the score to a horror movie but I can't quite figure out what movie it would best fit with because I typically think of John Carpenter and while this is somewhat close to that it isn't close enough for me to think of it that way.   As this seemingly defines a new genre of sound, a haunted distorted guitar wave, it could also be redefining the horror genre of film.

Guitar notes begin to pierce through ever so sharply and then we can hear these other notes just dropping off into the background as this sound becomes layered.   There is an intensity to it which also makes this just feel like it is suspense more than scary, but then the tones begin to feel a little bit lighter and it gets into that post rock territory, like something from Deep Elm.   The way it then shifts to sound like a creepy music box just has me imagining it with some words like "I'll never tell" and it just freaks me out.

Vocals do come in at this point, but they are not quite as scary as I was expecting.  If you listen to this one at night, in the dark, by yourself, you are braver than me.  I'm just constantly waiting for someone to knock on my door while I'm listening to this for that jump scare.   Aside from it being haunted (hence the name) it is calm though, so if it didn't potentially give you nightmares you could put it on to relax or even sleep but I wouldn't dare.

It feels like water is in the background now as distorted bass beats drop like bombs.  The singing within this now makes me think of church and that is also a little bit scary.  This begins to just open up now, like it's lighting up the sky, and I can feel a sense of it taking off- as if the earth is being set on fire.   Static comes in now as it feels like we're losing the signal.   The guitar comes cutting back through now and I feel like we've returned to that earlier redefined genre.   Notes ring back and forth and then those big distorted beats drop.

As the singing returns it can feel angelic but also somehow make the entire vibe just seem more haunted.   Distortion then does begin to cut through like Friday the 13th and Jason is hiding in the woods.   It begins to feel mechanical now, which just makes it more frightening, and then it just expands into this vast sense of dread.   This continues up until the end, at which point it just fades out, and then you are left questioning what just happened and that feeling of fear is never really washed away.