The Abyssian come into 2026 with Let Me Die Under the Stars as if emerging from a deeper layer of the very abyss they've always summoned. Here, doom is no longer just slow or atmospheric: it has become something sedimented, like wet rock that still breathes.
The sound is more compact than before, with less cosmic dispersion and more sonic mass. The guitars donât âriffâ in the classic sense: they dig. They are slow, abrasive walls that open and close like fissures under pressure. The drum machine and the real drums still coexist, but not as an obvious stylistic choice: more like two entities that have never truly fused, and thatâs precisely why they work. Thereâs always that not-quite-human heartbeat under everything. Compared to Godly, here some of the âopenâ melodic component is lost and density is gained. The tracks seem less written to be remembered and more to be endured. Umberto Vonoâs vocal lines are less narrative and more ritualistic: they do not lead, but evoke. At times, it almost feels as if the voice comes from a level below the music, not above. The imagery remains that of classic Abyssianâsunken civilizations, ancient gods, Nibiru, Sumerian echoesâbut now itâs no longer a frame: itâs as if everything has already collapsed. Youâre not listening to the story of an abyssâyou are inside the abyss after the collapse. There are moments when the tracks open up, but not to âbreatheâ: to make you lose your bearings even more. No real climax, few concessions. This is a record that works more through pressure than through dynamics.
Itâs not an easy album, nor does it seem to want to be. Itâs the kind of work that doesnât ask for your attention: it takes it from you.
And in the end, youâre left with this pretty clear feeling: Let Me Die Under the Stars doesnât close anything or open anything. It just keeps digging in the same spot, but a bit deeper than before.