An Abstract Illusion – Woe
Release Date: 9th September 2022
Label: Willowtip Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Ambient Death Metal, Technical Death Metal.
FFO: Be’lakor, Kardashev, Septicflesh.
Review By: Andy Spoon
An Abstract Illusion wanted their 2022 release, Woe, to be an album that wasn’t just 7 tracks, but one 60 minute song in seven distinct movements, something that was valuable to the overall design and architecture of the album. Across the entirety of the album, there are numerous peaks and valleys between tracks, reminiscent of the ebbs and flows of post metal in their recurrent musical themes and reprises, something that provides excellent continuity for the listener at many points. There is a melodic theme for multiple parts of a track that flows back and forth between heavier parts, breakdowns (so to speak). The tracks change only when there is a major thematic difference proposed between songs, most of the transitions peppered with orchestral, choral, or electronic pads to enhance the atmosphere between tracks. Further, few tracks really start as one might assume they would, where the intro of the specific element takes form. Woe often has long intros and build-ups, only to move in and out of smaller “movements”, sometimes, several minutes into a track (such as Track 03, Tear Down This Holy Mountain, which takes a full 02:35 to really get going).
There are moments of lucidity in electronic samples and extremely relaxing beats that follow the theme of the previous track. Keyboard arrangements are present throughout the entirety of the album, but there are moments of the lulls in which the programming steps forward in the mix with programmed synth segments that are beautifully-placed to set up a great big crescendo with the full band in a matter of a minute or two. There are also horns, strings, and various other instruments in several parts thanks to the arranger which create atmosphere or accents.
The transition between tracks 3 and 4 is rather abrupt, but it doesn’t hurt the “flow” so to speak. It just leaves the thematic repetition of the first 20 minutes and takes a new beat structure and key into the next segment, starting right off the bat with the beginning of the main “song” without a long intro. In Prosperity, there is quite a bit of Gaerea in the vocal technique, angst and cracking voice peeking over the top of the furious, but rather short high points in the track’s energy, which follows a beautifully-regressive chord structure reminiscent of something that sounds akin to a technical death mix of Meshuggah and 65DaysofStatic, something that really just works before fading out into a light piano sonata after almost 8 minutes.
Track 5, Blonsterkrans spends a majority of the time in a quiet, but dramatic piano/symphonic melody that is superbly-arranged until around 3:45, where the full band comes back in to heighten the energy in a restrained, but palpable way. This is a gorgeous track, and it is moody and haunting. I think its simplicity is perfect, as is its placement on the album. It abruptly changes keys in a dissonant segment at its end to start what ought to be the last series of movements.
In The Heavens Above, You Will Become a Monster is the 6th, and in my opinion, best track, which is varied as it is long. It is a blistering 14 minute 28 second track, that in its entirety has half a dozen up-and-down moments that are both beautiful and headbangingly-fast. You can tell there is a great deal of thought put into just this one track, as it has a serious amount of “prog” as well as melodic segments, using breaks in 7:8 time to get the listeners’ heads banging a little before diving straight into the extreme, howling, blast beats and fury at around the 7:00 minute mark. The transitions are excellent, reminiscent of Haken, just much heavier. The final segment of the song is 6-7 minutes of a beautiful, melodious (but still heavy) refrain that builds and builds to create a gorgeous, effervescent atmosphere that could go on and on forever without causing the listener to get bored. The minimalist-style phrase repetitions are also partially accented with a guest female vocal track.
The final track, This Torment Has No End, Only Has New Beginnings, moves with a quiet melody from the previous track before entering a prog-type segment that is both heavy and continuous with the prior movement before wholly stopping altogether to dive back into a quiet and mellow acoustic guitar and vocal solo. Here, we can slow down for a brief moment as the track seems to take on a King Crimson vibe that is light and possibly even soothing, unlike, other downtempo parts which are much more musically-heavy from a thematic standpoint. At last, at about 7:30, the track takes on a final, more earthy heavy tone as what feels like a finale is approaching with a new chord phrase that keeps building and building. It ends with a long segment breakdown of that same phrase over again, with organ and choir overlaying the final moments. I sometimes wish there would have been one final blast-beat-riddled extreme metal segment to close off the album, but I still wasn’t disappointed.
Overall, Woe absolutely blew me away. I immediately wanted to fire it back up and start it all over again, something that is quite rare for me. There was just so much I think that I missed on the first go-’round that I couldn’t wait to try and decipher more from it. I am not entirely sure if this is going to be up there with my top albums of the year, but if December rolls around, and I see this up toward the top of my top 10, I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised. The listening experience is just so complete, so satisfying, that I was actively excited at the end of the album. I was excited about the future of this band, to listen to older projects and releases to see if there was other material I had been missing out on. I think that this album sounds like something that one could rest upon as their magnum opus. In essence, if you told me this might be An Abstract Illusion’s best album, I wouldn’t have even doubted your judgment. This entire experience was almost 60 minutes, but I honestly just didn’t want it to end. Many longer albums get extremely-repetitive, but this one was almost not long enough.
(4.5 / 5)
