Abraham – idsungwüssä
Release Date: 26th September 2025
Label: Pelagic Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Post-Metal, Doom Metal, Progressive Metal, Sludge, Drone.
FFO: Cult of Luna, Wolves in the Throne Room, Amenra.
Review By: David Bryce
Idsungwüssä, the new album from Swiss post-metal heavyweights Abraham, is the culmination of a series of concept albums focused around humanity’s downfall. While Abraham have outlined that Idsungwüssä is the “final piece of this little jolly ride”, don’t be fooled by this portrayal of an album which may be one of the most devastating, unsettling and intriguing listens I have had the joy of undertaking.
Idsungwüssä, their fifth studio release, clocking in around the one-hour mark, was recorded during November 2024 and February 2025. The recording process has seen the band undertake some innovative techniques to layer the wall of sound that permeates through the album, from the pondering, reflective sections, to the crushing heavy elements. Throughout the album there initially seems to be some odd mixing choices, where elements of the music at the forefront feel jarring. However, over time you get the feeling that every element has been meticulously planned and that section, which maybe feels wrong, is supposed to convey that feeling. But on the whole, Idsungwüssä is sonically lush.
Opening track Fate of Man Lies in the Stars begins with a thumping solo bass drum before being drenched in dense discordant guitar lines and layered vocal textures which twist and turn throughout the song. During I Am the Vessel and the Vessel Is Me and on lead single Naked in a Naked Sky we get the first breakout moments of epic clarity where the dissonance and uneasiness which is prominent throughout the album relents. Suurwäut initially brings a welcome shift in pace from the first half of the album, with some interesting grooves and aggressive vocal delivery. The concluding track Home is an 11-minute saga within itself, with a consistent drone building throughout sections and an epic finale which provides a standout moment on the album.
I must admit that when first listening to idsungwüssä I was completely overwhelmed by the juxtaposition of being faced with an album that was unsettling while at the same time epic in the grandest sense; complete unstable ambivalence in sections but also cohesive and satisfying in others. It is a concept album that as a cog in a trilogy sometimes loses its way as a stand-alone piece of work, but taken together with the preceding chapters provides a satisfying conclusion to this dark epic narrative. If you are looking for riffs or a variety of tracks, this is not the album for you. If you are looking for an hour’s worth of music which will wash over you and leave you drenched in complex, epic, dense uneasiness, then Abraham have definitely delivered the album for you.
(3.5 / 5)
