Seeing the band's evolution through the years, a fan of theirs knows they are always good to deliver, offering with each release a more complex recording, denser and more majestic an atmosphere than what had been captured before -- and with it, they always try something new and ultimately also stunningly successful; from keyboards to brass instruments, from straightforward, 'conservative' funeral doom, to a Cathedral-sized dark symphony with more than just a tuba or a flute, or a trombone.

_Theomorphic Defectiveness_ sees Abstract Spirit in their most complex phase; a natural evolution from their monumental _Horror Vacui_, an improved, more versatile a beast that has verged on being almost completely drenched in neoclassical / neo-operatic approach, so unique and so effective the likes of which I have never heard before -- and I've heard a -lot- of funeral doom albums in the past decade.

The belching vocals are still here (the most ominous of all 'metal vocals'); the absolutely mesmerizing keyboards are still here; but this time the whole is more varied: the drumming, the vocal tones, the multitude of brass instruments. Yet now Abstract Spirit have decided to go all the way and totally screw with our minds in that they add these minuscule ghostly sounds, like sonic apparitions here and there, embedded in the recording in the most ethereal of ways, like something that should not be there, fleeting and bizarre; an extra punch to the music, as if they needed it in the first place, so this whole magnum opus is not only as good as funeral doom gets (pitch dark, abysmal, tragic, enigmatic, surreal, melancholic to the most extreme, religious, transcendental, greater than life, Gothic and devouring), but it is also a total and absolute mind-fuck, if there ever was one.

I promise you won't get enough of this album; it's perfect in any sense of the word, setting new standards for this sombre musical art of funeral doom. It will show you sights that are otherworldly yet unbelievably beautiful without diminishing from their insanely dark essence and lurking madness.

_Theomorphic Defectiveness_ is easily one of the best albums of year 2013; a funeral doom milestone so enormous, I dare Abstract Spirit to outdo themselves on their next album -- I dare them!