An Abstract Illusion – The Sleeping City
Release Date: 17th October 2025
Label: Willowtip Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Death Metal, Atmospheric Death Metal, Black Metal.
FFO: Leprous, Kardashev, Rivers of Nihil, Be’lakor.
Review By: Andy Spoon
If you glance back through the Metal Epidemic Catalog of time, I placed An Abstract Illusion’s last album Woe, as the 2022 AOTY, delivering spine-tingling orchestration and unbelievable progressive metal presence. I think that having the opportunity to listen to their newest album, The Sleeping City, was a privilege. This is an album that I think will make fans of the last album very happy, but might not generate new fans of the genre, just yet, as I think that AAI’s style is just so completely-unique that mainstream death metal listeners are not going to appreciate the musical complexity of the album. I don’t necessarily want to make Absolute Elsewhere connections, but I think that it needs to be said. I certainly hope that the band didn’t decide to build this album off the Blood Incantation model, as I think that the album stands on its own feet. That being said, I will have to draw some lines between the two, hoping that the band was working concurrently to Blood Incantation and not inspired-by.
In the band’s statement about the record, they described how they wanted to create something akin to the soundtrack to a dystopian science fiction movie with their death metal influence. This is something which isn’t a brand-new idea, but hasn’t really captured me, personally. I think that there have been some concept death metal albums like Absolute Elsewhere, my 2024 AOTY, which have worked towards becoming somewhat of a similar offering to a soundtrack of a larger story. That being said, I think that The Sleeping City is going to be the closest thing to Absolute Elsewhere in concept that I’ve heard in the last year, which is certainly something to take note of.
The main things that jump out are the synthwave tones as well as the arpeggios, which give the album that “past, but future” sound that was also heard on Absolute Elsewhere on a few tracks. While Blood Incantation leaded heavily into the Tangerine Dream influence, it’s harder to describe where An Abstract Illusion draws their synthwave influence, which is not really a bad thing. The concept of a cinematic-style soundtrack is that it should have a theme, but varied efforts to create atmospheres with different sounds and effects. Naturally, that was one of the things that I’d be looking for on The Sleeping City.
Musically, there’s just so much to absorb, and I mean that in the absolute best way possible. The synth effects really add the “cinematic” effects to everything across the entire damned album. There’s just so much to describe, which complicates the album in a meaningful way. The combination of the strings, synths, and chorals is something that leaves nothing to be desired. The only criticism about the levels and depth of the tracking is that it might not be remotely possible to reproduce in a live setting. There are layers upon layers of arpeggios, pads, synth stabs atop the layers of vocal chorals that enhance the main harsh vocal attack. This is not something that only exists here and there. In fact, the album sounds like something that would be an excellent show experience, akin to one of those old-timey Pink Floyd laser light shows.
There are some moments that are a little off-brand for An Abstract Illusion, such as a little neoclassical riffage in one of the tracks (I will make you listen to hear it as not to affect your listening experience). However, it didn’t take away from the totality of the music. One of the questions that I had was regarding how the neoclassical segment might have fit in with the synthwave-y tonal experience that pervades the rest of the album. Obviously, there are lots of little bite-sized pieces of the 80s-feeling bits that roll in and out of the progressive death metal, so there is a grand scheme of things that tends to pervade. I just wonder how certain parts were inspired, believing that there is some lore behind the whole album.
Generally, the vocals are desperate and dynamic. I love the blend of clean and harsh, the rasp and angsty cries at times. The drums and guitars are just layered in such a way that the listener could listen over and over and pick up nuanced parts over and over again, something that definitely leads to a powerful listening experience, especially if enhanced chemically. I think that there is no doubt that this is a great follow-up to Woe, something that I always thought would be a difficult ask for An Abstract Illusion. From a technical standpoint, I think that it definitely stands up with Woe in most ways. There are more tracks on The Sleeping City that I can point to as truly excellent. While Woe certainly had a couple of tracks that I might consider truly epic, The Sleeping City has 3–4 tracks that achieve most of the same effect, making the album a more complete listen. I certainly think that the album has the potential to fight for AOTY this year, as Woe did, previously. I think that the 2025 calendar of releases is just too thick to determine if The Sleeping City is going to compete, just yet. I think that there’s a lot of fire in An Abstract Illusion’s belly, which is surging out through this cinematic and dystopian progressive offering that will absolutely make fans of their last album happy.
(4.5 / 5)
