ABRAHAM HAVE A WELL-TRAINED EYE ON THE UNIVERSE

Sludge metal is a strange beast. On one end of the spectrum, you’ve got the Mastodon/High On Fire stoner crew, and on the other end you’ve got things like Cult of Luna, Pelican, Neurosis, and Giant Squid. So while I wasn’t really sure what to expect, I knew I was in for a strangely fruitful listen when I opened Abraham’s first release on Pelagic Records and saw the song titles “Saloon Bizarre,” “Coyote vs. Machete,” and “Astro Zombies.” Abraham make sludge that bridges between stoner rock, drone, and even melodic death metal.

You remember the first time you ever heard a Devin Townsend song, and you had no idea what the fuck was going on, but you knew that it was awesome? That’s how An Eye On the Universe made me feel. I am still not quite sure what’s happening when I listen to it. It’s hard for me to figure out what’s going on when the songs switch between an almost ballad-esque feel (“Saloon Bizarre”) and a droning Broadrick-style whale of a song (“Hellsinki”). It’s still harder when I literally have my musical skills incapacitated by the intro of “Herz, Knie, Staub.” This album is going to do strange things to you. An Eye on the Universe is utterly unclassifiable. The metal brain just isn’t used to transitioning from post-rock tremolo melody to mathcore dissonance.

I actually feel that the vocals are the weakest part of the album, at least musically. They’re kind of generic and untextured when they’re not clean, which is often. But the great thing about Abraham is that one weak part does not ruin the whole. The band has phenomenal synergy, which is a primary reason it’s hard to separate distinct elements from each other; Abraham sounds like one well-oiled machine rather than a group of instrumentalists working together.

The press release claims that Abraham “create a barren aural landscape,” but while the songs may be heavy, this is anything from barren. When I think barren, I think of a desert. When I hear Abraham, I think of underground caves – blooming with unprecedented life while chunks of earth rain down among the crustaceans. The press release is more accurate when it calls the music “abrasive,” and claims it will make you feel like “jagged rock exposed to the elements.” Abraham’s music peels you away from yourself. It’s only February, but this is definitely going to be one of my favorite releases this year. Everyone should check this out, whether or not you like sludge.

(4 1/2 out of 5 horns)

-DM