Band Spotlight: An Abstract Illusion – The Progspace 10th Anniversary Show

We’ve enjoyed their shows and photographed them more than once over the years, witnessing their growth from their first-outside-Sweden show at ProgPower Europe (2023) to a show in early 2025 in Denmark. The band’s balance of technical death metal aggression with genuine melodic weight has only gotten more assured on stage. 

An Abstract Illusion’s rise into a must-see live act comes naturally after their widespread praise from their essential albums “Woe” (2022) and “The Sleeping City” (2025). This year the band made their long awaited North American debut at ProgStorm Festival in Montreal (presented by The Progspace), sharing a bill with Cynic, Car Bomb and Pure Reason Revolution among others.

From there they carried straight on into their first ever tour in Canada, a bold move, as until now, their touring experience was built almost entirely on European stages. That international reach says everything about how far the band has come since “Illuminate the Path” (2016) first turned heads a decade ago.

Their 2025 album “The Sleeping City” builds on the widely praised “Woe” (2022), and as our own reviewer Bob put it, the album is one where “each subsequent listen reveals something else.“

A band that rewards repeat listens is a band that rewards a second trip to the merch stand, too.