“…a record of striking instrumental purpose and expressive intent.” — The Obelisk
The Obelisk is currently streaming In Time For The Last Rays Of Light, the brooding full-length from French atmospheric heavy rock/doom collective ABRAHMA. The stream comes in advance of the record’s official release Friday May 24th via Small Stone.
Following three tumultuous years of personal challenges and lineup changes, In Time For The Last Rays Of Light chronicles the ravages of coping with loss and mental illness, brought to bear with heavy and progressive songwriting, melodic catharsis, and an impact that goes beyond the material itself.
Writes The Obelisk of the offering, “It is a record of striking instrumental purpose and expressive intent. It not only moves their sound forward from where it was four years ago, but it changes the narrative of the group’s function and that of [vocalist/guitarist Sébastien] Bismuth as a bandleader and songwriter.”
Read more and hear ABRAHMA’s In Time For The Last Rays Of Light at The Obelisk at THIS LOCATION.
View the band’s previously-released video for “Lost Forever” below.
Produced and mixed at Orgone Studios by Jaime Gomez Arellano (Paradise Lost, Ghost) In Time For The Last Rays Of Light follows 2015’s Reflections In The Bowels Of A Bird, and whether it’s the stark chug and lumbering weight of “Eclipse Of The Sane Pt. 1: Isolation Ghosts” or the furious blasting in “Lucidly Adrift,” its songs produce a depth of atmosphere that speaks to the soul that birthed them.
A split with the prior lineup of the band brought the Rouen, France-based founding vocalist/guitarist Sébastien Bismuth into contact with local outfit Splendor Solis, whose members would soon be folded into the new incarnation of ABRAHMA. After many false starts, the band hit the studio in July 2018 and set to work on what is unmistakably their greatest accomplishment to-date: an album that copes with the depression that inspired it and soars hopefully above while reminding that the darkness beneath is ever-present.
“People do not take mental illness seriously,” says vocalist/guitarist Sébastien Bismuth. “People suffering from depression generally feel rejected, and it is not only a feeling. People who’ve never gone through it generally do not understand how hard it can be to live every day with this weight on your shoulders, all those questions going through your head.”
Spanning genres and decades of influence, from the Bowie-ism of “…Last Epistle” to the gothic unfolding of closer “There Bears The Fruit Of Deceit,” In Time For The Last Rays Of Light speaks with raw honesty and lush craft to its challenges and realizations.
In keeping with the album’s theme, a portion of the merch proceeds from ABRAHMA‘s next tours will go to help those suffering from mental illness. “I decided to use this album as a medication against this depression and maybe help other people in this situation,” Bismuth recounts. “Each song explains a different side of it: loss of confidence, other’s critical looks, the impression of not having a place in this world.”
With front and back covers by famed French artist Gustave Doré (1832-1883) and a greater expanse of sound than ABRAHMA has ever had before, In Time For The Last Rays Of Light confronts its demons and offers a reminder that light exists in the first place.
ABRAHMA:
Sébastien Bismuth – vocals, guitar, effects
Florian Leguillon – guitar, backing vocals
Benǫt Carel Рguitar, synth, backing vocals
Romain Hauduc – bass, backing vocals
Baptiste Keriel – drums, backing vocals
http://abrahmamusic.net
http://www.facebook.com/ABRAHMAMUSIC
http://abrahma.bandcamp.com
http://www.smallstone.com
http://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
http://www.smallstone.bandcamp.com
http://www.deadlight.fr