Album Stream: Abraham, Look, Here Comes The Dark!
Look, Here Comes the Dark! is a four-part concept record about the disappearance of life on earth.
If that’s not bleak enough for you, the Swiss, post-metal/sludge outfit Abraham more than backs up those morbid themes with appropriately dark music, brought to life (to death?) by producer Magnus Lindberg, who you might also know as Cult Of Luna’s guitarist. This album is dense — absolutely packed — and at nearly two hours long, it’s a lot to digest. But that’s the beauty of a piece of music like this: the more you listen, the more the layers of nuance and complexity reveal themselves. As all great concept records do, Look, Here Comes the Dark! is remarkably varied throughout its run time, dynamic and full of life in spite of its morose theme.
The band offers simply the following:
“The time is now: welcome grief, do not wallow in despair. Cities everywhere are laid to waste.
“The time is now. Mother Earth reclaims what is hers. The last remnants of civilization suffocate under carnivorous plants.
“The time is now. A gigantic mycelium dissolves all life on this ungodly rock.
“The time is now: look, here comes the dark.”
Stream Look, Here Comes the Dark! exclusively via MetalSucks below; it comes out on May 11th via Pelagic and can be pre-ordered here. Below the embed, you’ll find a quick synopsis of each of the album’s four parts.
I – Anthropocene: The first part begins with the downfall of civilization, the remains of mankind and technology, and the survivors’ feeble attempts to escape from the urban chaos that ensues. This part is characterized by compositions that reflect the loss of bearing, as well as faster pieces that evoke a sort of panic feel. The vile, hopeless atmosphere of these times is sonically reflected by a dirty, gritty, blurred and granular sound.
II – Phytocene: In the second section, mankind’s architectural heritage is reclaimed by vegetation. The balance of power is inverted: remaining animal life is endangered, driven to extinction by further mindless exhaustion and depletion, without the chance for recovery. The musical experience of this second part aims to convey a sensation of suffocation in an environment where it is becoming increasingly impossible to breathe. The compositions are slower paced and more imposing, leaving more space to the bass.
III – Myocene: The third period depicts landscapes where lush vegetation has given way to a humongous sprawling mycelium, controlling all remaining life. The last form of collective consciousness has merged into a gigantic organism whose ultimate task is to purge the planet of the scoria of humanity. Focusing on the mysteries of consciousness and its unlimited capacity, the band sets foot on an experimental field… there are some jazz-inspired compositions here, and the lyrics delve into vastly psychedelic territories, delivered by acid-soaked, multi-layered vocals.
IV – Oryktocene: The grand finale leaves no doubt about how desolate a sphere Earth has become: an empty rock floating in space. The compositions are stripped bare here, with no room for anything superfluous. The minimalist drone-like instrumentation results in a very dry and cold sound. A cynical epilogue leaves us with a few survivors finally departing into space, perpetuating and disseminating the destructive force that lies within humankind,
