"This whole song feels like the perfect soundtrack to the credits of a post-apocalyptic road movie. Hands down the most accessible song on the record as it ditches all the dissonance for a more melodic but very sorrowful tone and vibe with a lot of reverb"
Abraham was a band that I heard of, but I never checked them out in the past. The name evoked something in me that I couldn’t pin down. This record is an unrelentless bastard of sludgy "post-metal" combined with a hint of dissonant modern "black metal". This record sounds like a poisoning cloud that is drifting and floating around, consuming and swallowing up every bit of hope.
The cover artwork is the perfect representation of how the record sounds and feels. Verminvisible starts off with desperate vocals and a slow but groovy tempo. This whole track is just the perfect precursor on where the next 45 minutes will go. Sometimes this sounds like a darker version of Cult of Luna (as if this was even possible!). Blood moon, New Alliance picks up the pace while weaving in some "black metal" elements, paired with beautiful basslines just to end in dissonant arpeggio picked guitar line. This song really has it all.
The absolute highlight of the entire record for me is Maudissements. This whole song sounds like it has been recorded in a shed with the bare minimum of technology, and it really evokes the feeling like the world is slowly being radiated and just rotting away. This is the song where the artwork, the production and the songwriting all come together to create something absolutely unique. While the song goes on it sounds like it’s going out of tempo and out of tune ever so slightly, and this is so subtle, that it can sometimes question your sanity. A fever dream of a song.
The next track Ravenous Is The Night sounds like waking up after the end of the world with a riff that any extreme metal band with their toe in modern black metal would be proud to have written. Our Words Born In Fire feels like an offshoot of a Neurosis record. Those tribal drums paired with the vast soundscape of the guitars is just phenomenal. The song goes harder the more it goes on. It is a testament to the vibe this song creating that the rhythm doesn’t change that much throughout the entire song.
The following track Fear Overthrown continues this vibe, even though the arrangement is far more complex. The most remarkable thing about this track is the moment where the whole song breaks down to a vocal delivery that seems to sing into the void, accompanied only, by a haunting guitar. The line “breathe in the poison the winds” is sticking so much with the listener while bridging the gap to the overarching theme, that the world is ending. This is the most epic song on the record for me.
After Fear Overthrown, the record delves deep into post-metal territory with A Celestial Funeral. While the whole build seems very minimalistic it also is very unsettling. Again, a perfect mixture of Cult of Luna and Neurosis is heard echoing throughout. The very natural and grounded production just supports every fibre of this song. The record finishes off with the moody and haunting Black breath featuring the Swiss artist Emilie Zoe, who gives the song a very welcome contrast. This whole song feels like the perfect soundtrack to the credits of a post-apocalyptic road movie. Hands down the most accessible song on the record as it ditches all the dissonance for a more melodic but very sorrowful tone and vibe with a lot of reverb.
Débris de Mondes Perdus is visceral, it’s grounded and it’s unpleasant at times. The artwork ties in so well with how this record sounds and feels, and even though the result seems a bit simple at first it really unfolds itself the deeper you allow yourself to sink into it. If you want to listen to the perfect soundtrack to the end of the world look no further. For me, this is definitely an early contender for Album of the year.
Alex.
https://abrahamband.bandcamp.com/album/d-bris-de-mondes-perdusd-bris-de-mondes-perdus