Abraham – Débris de Mondes Perdus (Review)

This is the fourth album from Swiss post-hardcore/metal band Abraham.

Abraham craft eight post-hardcore/metal soundscapes with layered compositions and multifaceted songwriting. The obvious starting point for comparisons would be a band like Neurosis, but with added elements of bands like Knut, Deadguy, and Botch.

This is post-hardcore/metal with rough edges, deliberately so; Abraham have a heart of punk intensity in their music, preventing it from becoming too polished or tame. The band have a delivery that’s somehow both sophisticated and raw, as if they’ve managed to channel the exotic side of post-metal and the primal, passionate side of punk at the same time. The music also takes aggressive cues from sludge metal’s dark influence, providing some of the heavier and faster moments with lasting bite.

There’s something feral here, despite how well-structured the music is, or how many intelligent ideas it deploys. Abraham are a handful of steps away from unleashing their pain and anger in simpler, more direct ways, but throughout Débris de Mondes Perdus the delicate balance between the sophisticated and the primal rawness is carefully maintained by the band’s impressive songwriting, performances, and ambitions. Lurking underneath it all though is a constant sense of danger and savagery, which helps explain the near-ubiquitous feelings of unease and tension which are never too far away.

Débris de Mondes Perdus is a collection of tracks that are as interesting as they are viscerally emotive. They’re as involved as they are instantly-gratifying, and as serpentine as they are direct. Abraham have wrought a record that’s a tight balancing act of near-contradictions and clashing juxtapositions. In the hands of a lesser act it’s a recipe for disaster, but through skill and passion they keep this remarkable album right where it should be. Here’s a record that can stimulate both the intellectual and the instinctual, and I urge you to sample its wares.

Very highly recommended.