An Abstract Illusion have been building their particular version of progressive death metal from the arctic north of Sweden since 2007, and on their third full-length they’ve arrived at something that feels fully realized. The Sleeping City takes the emotional weight of their 2022 album Woe and runs it through a different filter: where that record was dark and despairing, this one is vivid, layered with arpeggiating synthesizers and vast soundscapes that owe as much to Vangelis and John Carpenter as they do to any metal tradition. The result is a death metal album that sounds like it could soundtrack a dystopian science fiction film, and that description is a compliment.
“Blackmurmur” opens the record with eleven minutes that establish the album’s scope immediately. The track moves between crushing progressive death passages and stretches of shimmering synth work, the transitions feeling organic rather than forced. Karl Westerlund’s guitar work carries both density and detail, riffs that hit hard but contain enough melodic information to reward repeated listening. Christian Berglönn’s vocals sit at the center of the mix with a conviction that gives the heavier sections real gravity.
“Frost Flower” is the album’s high point. At just over eight minutes, it pulls together every element the band has been developing across their career: folk and classical textures, string arrangements, clean vocals from guest Lukas Backeström that arrive with genuine warmth, and a melodic sensibility that makes the heavy passages hit harder by contrast. It’s the track where the band’s ambition and their ability to execute on it are in perfect alignment.
“Emmett” follows with another eleven-minute stretch that represents the record’s most dynamic songwriting. The track builds through patient layering, Robert Stenvall’s keyboards providing the atmospheric scaffolding while the guitars and drums push the intensity forward. “No Dreams Beyond Empty Horizons” is more direct, its eight minutes focused on a kind of propulsive melancholy that gives the album some of its most immediately gripping moments.
The closing title track brings things full circle across ten minutes that feel like a landing sequence, the intensity gradually giving way to something more contemplative without ever losing its weight. “Silverfields,” the album’s shortest piece at under four minutes, functions as a necessary pause before this final stretch, a moment of stillness that makes the return of the full band feel earned.
The production is dense and layered without sacrificing clarity. Robin Leijon’s mix gives the synthesizers and guitars equal standing in the frequency spectrum, which is essential for an album that treats both as primary voices. The drums have a natural, room-filling presence that grounds the more atmospheric passages. The string arrangements on “Frost Flower” are mixed with enough restraint that they enhance rather than overwhelm. At sixty minutes, the album occasionally tests its own length, but the sonic variety keeps each track feeling distinct.
Standout tracks: Frost Flower, Blackmurmur, Emmett
Boden, Sweden is about as far from the metal mainstream as you can get geographically, and An Abstract Illusion seem to have used that distance productively. The Sleeping City is the work of a band that has figured out exactly what they want to sound like and has the skill to get there. The synthesizers aren’t decoration. They’re architecture.
