Ahab: An Ocean Odyssey
Metal music and exploration go hand in hand. The most celebrated bands over history have always been renowned for their ability to push their boundaries musically, as well as delving into ever more intricate and exciting subject matter. AHAB are a band that know this all too well, throughout their career the band have made a name for themselves in the doom metal scene, creating grandiose records more akin to musical theatre than simple metal albums.
The band have released works tackling subjects such as the 1820 sinking of the whaleship Essex, which famously inspired the story of Moby Dick, the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and most recently the The Boats Of The “Glen Carrig”. Based on this subject matter the band have coined their own niche sub- genre named ‘nautical doom metal’ and it is in this vein that the band have penned their first new album in eight long years entitled The Coral Tombs.
When quizzed on the band’s long hiatus from the studio guitarist Christian Hector offers, “we have always been a band that takes time between releases, usually three years on average. However, when we released The Boats… we had one child between the group and now we are up to five!”
And sometimes it is just that simple, life gets in the way. Fortunately for the band they have a fantastic working relationship with their long-time record label Napalm Records, who appreciate that all good things come to those who wait, and AHAB will always deliver the goods when they hit the studio. “We have been with the label for roughly sixteen years,” explains Hector. “When it came to our debut release, the label was still small, and we were given a relatively small budget for the time, and we sold a fair number of albums for them. So, there is an element of trust there.”
This time out the band have penned one of their most ambitious releases to date. The Coral Tombs is a concept album based around the novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and features seven new tracks that see the band pushing their musical boundaries further than ever before. Those who expected the usual glacially paced, crushingly heavy funeral doom that the band have delivered for the most-part of their career will be shocked to hear blast beats utilised for the opening track Prof. Arronax’ Descent Into The Vast Oceans. Proving once again that the AHAB are a band that always have the ability to surprise their audience.
“I always wanted blast beats to be included at some point,” explains Hector. “It felt like an ode to bands such as DISEMBOWELMENT and meant we could start the album with a real bang.” However, for fans that may be worried that the band have abandoned their tried and true formula there is truly nothing to worry about. With songs such as Mobilis In Mobili sounding more like a soundtrack to a piece of cinema than anything else. Including the use of bells and haunting guitar tones to give off the feeling of descent into the vast depths of the ocean. “Cornelius [Althammer, drums] had the idea of using bells to give that effect and I think it worked really well to add to the atmospherics of it all,” Hector elaborates. This sort of subtle nuance in a track may seem simple and insignificant but can add a whole other layer of depth and texture to the songwriting and it is in this sort of moment that AHAB thrive.
This is metal music for the thinking person. Everything has its place and that even comes down to the very carefully selected subject matter, with this not being the first time that the band had breached the subject of writing a record around 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. “We had previously discussed writing an album based around this novel at the time that we wrote The Giant,” tells Hector. “We decided to revisit the idea this time out and everyone re-read the novel and researched the themes and meaning in more depth. This could be something very interesting to interpret, as it’s not only an adventurous story but it is also something more in depth for us to work from.”
With an album of this magnitude locked and loaded, it looks set to start the year off on a wonderful note for fans of doom music. However, the band are not rushing themselves when it comes to getting back out on the road. At present, they have only committed to a small number of European festivals, with more to be announced in the near future and it goes without saying that when the band finally announce more European dates then people will be clamouring to see these doom epics brought to life on the stage.
The Coral Tombs is out now via Napalm Records.
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