"Easily one of the best modern bands in this genre." Honored to be on this list, featured alongside Rivers Of Nihil, Alkaloid, Hath, Archspire, Persefone and many more great bands. Thanks Forgemaster for featuring "Woe"!

🔝MY ALBUMS OF 2025⚡️ Here is my complete top 50. 2025 was fantastic, and 2026 is already shaping up to be exceptional. In 2026, as in 2025, follow @kmanriffs.bsky.social and all the wonderful people who make this community the best place to find great music.

Re-visiting my Top 10 of 2025. #1: An Abstract Illusion - "The Sleeping City" released October 17th #Sweden #progmetal #atmosphericmetal #progrock #blackmetal #deathmetal #nowplaying

Karl is featured here as one of the best guitarists of 2025! theprogmind.com/2026/01/06/t...

@alexeckmanlawn.bsky.social with the Artwork of the Year for his work on 'The Sleeping City'. Well deserved! theprogmind.com/2026/01/05/t...

2025

An Abstract Illusion just made an incredible album with twists and turns blending 80s synths with crushing riffs and ethereal clean sections. Easily my album of the year.

#12: An Abstract Illusion - The Sleeping City Progressive atmospheric death metal Wasn't sure with this one at first. Following up their last album, Woe, with a synth-laden, Vangelis inspired sound and a strong focus on vocals is bold - and the right decision. It's not Woe. It's The Sleeping City.

⬆️🎶 ☢️☣️ 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ ☣️☢️ 🎶⬆️ PROGRESSIVE DEATH METAL: Huge Year again in 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣! This is my TOP 5️⃣ 1️⃣AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION 🇸🇪 2️⃣IN MOURNING 🇸🇪 3️⃣BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS 🇳🇿 4️⃣RIVERS OF NIHIL 🇺🇸 5️⃣FALLUJAH 🇺🇸

In no particular order, here are my top 20 albums for 2025. If I didn't list something you liked it's because I didn't listen to it or because it stinks. Pink Floyd at Pompeii gets an honorable mention here, it's new but not new new, so I left it off. Local H's reworked Ham Fisted is also good.

Merry Christmas here are my top 10 albums of the year

Also my favorite albums and soundtracks (unordered)

My 2025 metal albums of the year! It's been a year packed with so many bands across many styles making great albums. Each of the top five will get their own post :) #metal #metalsky #musicsky

heeeell yeah

AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION 🇸🇪 « The Sleeping City » Entering this sleeping city is like a waking dream for any fan of progressive Death Metal. Incredibly rich, technical, complex, but above all sublime and captivating at every moment. A new work of art by one of the most brilliant bands of recent years.

🔝MY ALBUMS OF 2025⚡️4

As 2025 draws to a close, we are honored to see “TSC” on AOTY lists alongside some incredible pieces of work. “LPWP” made us Deafheaven fans. Both Kauan and DWEF were on 3/4 lists. Our Kiwi buds in BALTTW released a beautiful slab of schizo prog death. What’s on yours?

@anabstractillusion.bsky.social - The Sleeping City Genre: Progressive Metal I was introduced to AAI this year through their incredible album 'Woe', and 'The Sleeping City' is a perfect complementing release; please please please, absolutely do not miss phenomenal album.

A Happy Holidays wishes the AAI camp! Hope you’re having a safe and relaxing time. What music is everyone blasting? Over here it’s Kauan, Trees Of Eternity, Blindfolded and Led to the Woods, and Anna von Hausswolff.

Quite sorry but there isn't a band performing at the level Abstract Illusion are right now. Unsurpassable.

Alright, now we get to one of the styles that I *do* listen to often, and that is EXTREME PROG. This throws in forms of progressive metal fused with death metal, black metal, and other extreme types of metal. Here are my picks for 2025!

Okay, enough of you gave me approval to post about music I liked this year, so be warned. Check this thread throughout the day for 25 albums I loved.

Watch Isak’s insane one-take playthrough of “Like A Geyser Ever Erupting” from our latest album “The Sleeping City”, now on YouTube. You can watch this bad boy perform live 2026 in: Trondheim, Oslo, Copenhagen, Vienna, Munich, Hamburg and Montréal.

Milestone! Thanks everyone for listening

SCANDINAVIAN HEADLINER MINI-TOUR We're excited to announce our first ever headliner tour for some select dates in Scandinavia together with the legendary DISILLUSION. We'll be joined by the up-and-coming support acts Terravia and Feather Mountain. Hope to see as many people as possible out there!

My 2025 list includes @transgressivemetal.bsky.social, @unrqvtd.bsky.social, @ashenheartbm.bsky.social, @melpomene-band.bsky.social, @flummoxband.bsky.social, @allieinchains.bsky.social, @amiintrouble.bsky.social, Agriculture, @faetooth.bsky.social, & @anabstractillusion.bsky.social #metalsky

Cynic announced as Friday headliner for @progstormfestival.bsky.social 2026! 👉 buff.ly/bTXOIqR 💥 A truly defining band in progressive metal, still pushing boundaries after more than three decades. Montreal is in for an unforgettable night.

On croit parfois connaître ses propres limites musicales… jusqu’au moment où un groupe parvient à les bousculer. Avec The Sleeping City, AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION m’a rappelé qu’un album peut surprendre même là où on ne l’attend plus. 👉 progetplus.over-blog.com/2025/11/an-a...

Congrats to my friends in Tómarúm and An Abstract Illusion for getting in Loudwire's top 11 prog metal albums of 2025!! 🤯 Absolutely deserved attention!

I am strongly urging all of my metal loving friends to check out The Sleeping City by An Abstract Illusion. It's a really, really majestic ride.

Este año he estado un poco más desconectada de la escena y he acabado cayendo en cosas grandes. Pero más o menos este es mi top del año.

The Top 10 Albums of 2025 for @voidedgrimace.bsky.social 1. Coroner - Dissonance Theory 2. Messa - The Spin 3. Howling Giant – Crucible & Ruin 4. Yellow Eyes – Confusion Gate 5. Paradise Lost – Ascension 6. An Abstract Illusion 7. Evoken 8. Drouth 9. Slumbering Sun 10. Castle Rat - The Bestiary

Ok, for real this time. Amanda's 100% final, 100% official, 100% based Album of The Year list for 2025. The 36 albums I enjoyed most this year. See anything you like?

They pay me in 24 bit vinyl masters 🥹🫠

My top 10 albums of the year! I had to make many tough cuts, there were so many great releases. www.invisibleoranges.com/__trashed-42

Record of the Month over at @angrymetalguy.bsky.social! Super grateful to be included especially considering how incredibly STACKED October was with amazing releases. And we swear we don’t pay them (just don’t check our bank statements) www.angrymetalguy.com/records-o-th...

🔗: loudwire.com/best-prog-me...

Huge! Thanks to Loudwire for including us on this list, it's an honor being alongside some true legends of the genre, as well as some up-and-comers. "Easily one of the brightest beacons in modern Swedish progressive metal."

Congrats to @alexeckmanlawn.bsky.social whose cover has been awarded “Artwork Of The Year” by @desduck.bsky.social Motivation: “The artwork perfectly conveys the record’s incredible soundscapes. You can feel the surreal city structures and unsettling beauty oozing from the image.”

Thanks to all our wonderful fans who have supported us throughout the year, on whatever platform you prefer. We keep growing year after year, and it’s all because of you. 💜🖤 Here’s to a great 2026!

Confirmed 2026 live dates (so far). Where will we be seeing you, or where do you want us to come? 📸: Martin Dedron

Watch the full 'Like A Geyser Ever Erupting' one-take drum playthrough now on YouTube! See Isak Nilsson masterfully blast his way through our heaviest, most technical song to date. 🔗https://youtu.be/WkTkSyO6BuI

Some BTS pics from the drum recording of 'The Sleeping City' at Top Floor Studios in Gothenburg May 2024 together with Jakob Herrmann. Who's interested in some one-take, no samples, no edits drum playthroughs from Isak? We might have some coming... 📸: Emil P. Lundh

We’re now officially important enough to have gotten a Wikipedia article. Huge honor! Let’s get us cited in a bunch of high school papers.

Coming soon to the channel... the First Annual Rhyme Signatures Awards! Here's just a sample of the 10 categories to come, and the finalists (in alphabetical order!)

Isak ripping up the kit at Top Floor Studios during the recording of ‘The Sleeping City’. Can you guess the song?

TABARNAC MONTREAL ON S'EN VIENT! Psyched to make our North American debut at ProgStorm 2026, and honored to be the first band announced for this exciting festival. @theprogspace.bsky.social