Abraham – The Serpent, the Prophet & the Whore

September 28, 2012 • Pelagic Records

I forgot to do my homework for this one. I have heard Abraham's debut An Eye on the Universe but I couldn't remember a thing about it until I revisited it for this review. In any case, it didn't register with me enough to go back to it at all. Their second album, however, is actually quite interesting and quite enjoyable in its own right.

One thing that stuck out to me is that Abraham's sound has changed quite a bit. This time around, they are bringing a much more heavily metalcore-influenced sound; the music is fast and intense, but still with a very dreary atmosphere, kind of like early Neurosis with a touch of early Mastodon. I suppose their first album had a touch of that extra hardcore influence above what you normally find in sludge, but in this album it's definitely turned up to the extreme. The fusion of slower, more groovy sections with pounding hardcore riffs is very well-executed and cohesive, which is great. It gives the album a very desparing and mechanical atmosphere to it which sounds very natural. The guitars have this sort of hard-yet-drawly sound to them that goes along with the clean vocals well (take, for instance, the end of "Man the Serpent").

Also note that the band's performance is much better than the debut. The vocals are most notably improved, especially the clean singing, and the production has been tightened up a lot, giving them a much-needed more-professional presentation. There are a few other neat things hidden in the album—apparently, one of the members of Cult of Luna handled the mixing, and it shows; there are some sounds and atmospheres present that definitely remind me of that band (see "This Is Not a Dead Man, Yet" for the most interesting example).

Despite maybe not being quite as musically varied as I might like (just a small flaw), The Serpent, the Prophet & the Whore is definitely a good album. I feel like sludge metal has been trending in a new direction over the last few years, and Abraham has caught on and are near the front of the wave. It'll be cool to see where they go in the future. Meanwhile, their sophomore effort is certainly a worthy one.

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