"Débris de mondes perdus" By Abraham
Back To The Roots Of The Future
Abraham are about to release their new album "Débris de mondes perdus" on February 25th. With a total of eight songs, the band has managed to add something entirely new to the post-metal genre, which will particularly enchant fans of bands like Cult of Luna.
Abraham arose from the exciting Lausanne underground music scene. Maybe you also had the pleasure of experiencing them as support for The Ocean or Cult Of Luna. I did, and I enjoyed it a lot.
In terms of musical quality, their songs are in no way inferior to these bands. In the meantime, Abraham definitely made a name for themselves. The standard they set is pretty high.
Eleven years of Abraham
All in all, Abraham can look back on eleven years of band history marked by ups and downs: After the release of their last album, they lost their second guitarist and their main singer.
However, their love for heavy music and the painful vocals of drummer Dave Schlagmeister, who is now the only singer, kept the band together – ensuring to carry on bringing their music with its characteristic shrill screams into the dark world.
The new record "Débris de mondes perdus" delivers a marvellous sequel to its extensive predecessor, the dystopian concept album "Look, Here Comes The Dark!", which was divided into four sections and told the story of the disappearance of all life on earth.
"Débris de mondes perdus" is a worthy successor to "Look, Here Comes The Dark!"
Even then, the layout was more than thoughtful. Each section came on a vinyl record, delivering a unique style, songwriting and interplay.
If there can be a further telling of this wonderfully dark end-of-the-world story, it can only be "Débris de mondes perdus". Abraham managed to build on this musical experience to expand their opera with new chapters.
They did this in a very tasteful, thoughtful, raw and expressive way. Their statement in a chat with the label of their choice Pelagic Records leaves listeners more than just curious:
"As a conceptual core piece, we used a text that comes several hundred years from the future. Overall, it's more of a chant expressing fears, awe, struggles and lamentations than a story: very oral, primitive and heathen, evil and bizarre. You realise that the darkness has also darkened minds after it hit the earth."
Whether we should call "Débris de mondes perdus" "primitive" remains an open question. But is there a recognisable difference from their previous album's overall progressively narrative tone? Yes, there is! You can hear the fears and pains from the very first bars. The harsh vocals are simply masterful and immediately memorable.
"Our music today is rougher and less baroque"
If anyone has managed to set to music the turmoil and, at times, seemingly hopeless mood and scenery of the last two years, it is Abraham. They deliver a monument of our time that no one could have chiselled into stone in this way. The band confirms my impression in their comment to Pelagic:
"The record is much rougher and also definitely less baroque than our previous albums. We've kept the general feeling of unease, though."
The basic recipe for the new record, according to the band, was to use fewer instruments and push them to their limits. This simplicity, combined with a strong penchant for experimentation, has probably made the album what it is today: a solid and outstanding post-metal work. But, of course, I'm talking about post-metal as it should be: less produced, personal and direct. With this, Abraham have given the genre and its current phase a pat on the neck, adding something completely new. They managed to explore and enjoy the possibilities of their instruments to the fullest. They did that without becoming too focused on that at any point. Maybe you could describe this with: Back to the roots of the future.