In 2022, AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION from Sweden hit a jackpot with their sophomore post-rock-infused death-metal endeavor, “Woe.” For some reason, it slipped past my music radar completely at the time, and it was not until one of their recent singles that their music finally caught my attention, but better late than never! The thing is, their new album “The Sleeping City,” released on October 17th, 2025, via Willowtip Records, is easily one of the best albums of 2025 in this particular metal sub-genre – synth-laden progressive death metal, that is. Over the course of seven long-form songs, the band explores poignant sonic landscapes that flow smoothly together while playing with the beauty of stark contrasts between heavy aggression and atmospheric, almost 1980s science fiction-inspired soundscapes. The two best words to describe this grand statement are “impeccable” and “immersive.” If this album is anything to go by, the slumbering urban landscape can get mighty noisy on occasion, but when it’s not, it just sounds beautiful. This new body of work is a rather natural progression from “Woe” on all conceivable fronts; so, let’s take a nightly walk through the sleeping city…
The lush synths hit you right off the bat in the intro of “Blackmurmur,” setting a tad more futuristic, somewhat TRON-like tone for this endeavor compared to its predecessor. While the previous album was a conceptual affair to the bone, this new selection is more traditional with its seven individual songs; there are musical and lyrical passages that glue these songs together, but I wouldn’t call this a concept album per se unless, of course, the concept was about long-form, cinematic death-metal songs that kick ass somewhat progressively. By way of a mission statement, the opener rolls out a nice combination of progressive death-metal flourishes, electronic textures, and melodic clean vocals – speaking of which, vocalist Robert Stenvall‘s powerhouse vocals are definitely one of the album’s strong points.
“No Dreams Beyond Empty Horizons” is the single that caught my attention and introduced me to the band’s music about a month before this album’s release. Mixing crushing heaviness, beautiful melodic passages, and atmospherics in an almost OPETH-meets-NEO OBLIVISCARIS fashion, the song really hyped me up about the band. The marriage of savage brutality and delicate beauty is near-flawless in this beast of a track. Yeah, sure, the band could have made the song a bit longer and maybe a little bit less dense on occasion, but these minor blemishes cannot hide the fact that the song slaps hard – extremely hard. I’m sensing that the band might share an affinity toward the so-called “Wall of Sound” production style with Devin Townsend, and while these Swedes aren’t yet as immersive-sounding as the absolute best Townsend affairs, they are cooking up something rather nice here.
The rest of the album rolls out no further surprises, but the songs do incorporate all sorts of delicious ingredients, such as the choral break in “Like a Geyser Ever Erupting” and some haunting guitar work in various tracks; the guitar solos in both “No Dreams Beyond Empty Horizon” and the title track are simply gorgeous. Then, considering the album’s title and the overall dystopian sci-fi synth gloss, it’s kind of hard not to reminisce on the absolute best sci-fi soundtrack of all time – from the movie Blade Runner, composed by Vangelis. While this album is by far a more aggressive affair altogether, there’s something vaguely similar in the dystopian vibe – and the atmospheric sections, in particular, paint a picture of a perpetually dark, rainy, and polluted Los Angeles in the year 2019 from an alternative timeline where Deckard is hunting down replicants.
If there is one downside to this album, well, at least for those who are not so much into this type of progressive death metal, the songs seem to traverse very similar terrain, one after another. On the one hand, it makes the album flow quite nicely and seamlessly. On the other hand, not every song delivers such a gut punch as the best ones do. “Emmett” was the Achilles heel for me, and I’ve noticed that some metal aficionados lost interest in this affair much earlier for this very reason. Then again, the band picks up pace right after that song and the title track, closing the affair, is arguably the best one of the bunch. So, all things considered, “The Sleeping City” is a damn good selection even with its minor flaws.
Along with bands such as RIVERS OF NIHIL and BLOOD INCANTATION, these Swedish metal rogues form a haunting latticework onto which a bright future for progressive death metal can be built. Maybe they have put something in the tap water in Sweden, because Swedish death-metal acts with a progressive bent seem to have long made the case for a kind of renaissance of a new kind of extreme prog. AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION made quite a worthy entry in this category with their new album.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Blackmurmur
- No Dreams Beyond Empty Horizons
- Like A Geyser Ever Erupting
- Frost Flower
- Emmett
- Silverfields
- The Sleeping City
Lineup
Christian Berglönn – lead vocals
Robert Stenvall – keyboards, vocals
Karl Westerlund – guitars, bass
Isak Nilsson – drums, background vocals
with guest:
Lukas Backeström – lead vocals on tracks 1 and 4, choir (tracks 2 and 3)
Jonathan Miranda-Figueroa – cello on tracks 3, 4, and 7
Dawn Ye – violin on tracks 3 and 7
Flavia Fontana – violin on track 4
Elsa Svensson – voice on track 6
Label
Willowtip Records
