Ahab
The Giant

It is certainly not the most suitable time for the German Ahab's "nautik funeral doom": it's a genre more suited to winter, to the cold. That "nautik" that recalls the sea is also out of place, especially in Ahab's latest effort. In fact, the latest studio work of the German group is much more "wintery" than its two predecessors, without abandoning the theme of the abyss so dear to the Bavarian band. After Herman Melville and Owen Chase, Ahab draws inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe's Arthur Gordon Pym: another story of the sea, blood, and fears, in full Ahab style.

"The giant," third studio album was released by Napalm Records last May 25th: a CD that follows two interesting and well-played works like "The call of the wretched sea" (2006) and "The divinity of oceans" (2009). Both albums of funeral doom with atypical traits, where the claustrophobia of the genre was torn by atmospheric solutions and progressive-like slowdowns, making the combo's proposal certainly worthy of attention. "The giant" departs both from the pitch-black doom of the first work and from the more gothic and dramatic one of the second, seeking new space in a doom metal that winks at the acid psychedelia of the seventies, without despising the well-interpreted funeral blows by the singer Daniel Droste, capable of alternating clean, scream, and grunt. An album, in some respects, different from the previous two: a reason that has generated some uneasiness, some not too positive judgment.

This full-length must be framed within the artistic journey of Ahab: fundamental to understanding their records and their evolutions is never to separate the music from the themes and writers they choose to tackle in a given CD. Perhaps it is in this dualism of music/literature that the German band draws inspiration for the more or less radical change of its proposal: in this case, we are faced with a work that, although linked to what has been done in the past, seeks to draw a new line in the "journey" of Ahab. Poe's sharp and "acid" writing transforms in Ahab's world into melancholic and funereal digressions of vague psych inspiration, as can be perceived in the splendid opening song "Further south", a manifesto of the new path undertaken by the quartet.

A softer approach, more dreamy: a way of doing things that few expected and that becomes clear even in the more direct pieces, such as "Deliverance", where the melodic vein of the group emerges. However, it's worth highlighting how "The giant" is not an entirely "new" work: if the more psychedelic soul of the band clearly emerges, they do not forget that they have also composed decidedly more pressing funeral doom. These two facets then alternate in longer compositions, as in "Antarctica the Polymorphess" and the title track: two masterful examples of Ahab's epic and "abyssal" doom. If one had to find a flaw, it could be some passages stretched a bit too long, or one might frown upon hearing "Fathoms deep below", the least successful of the bunch.

It's summer and Ahab's offering does not gel very well with this period: but they are tied to the sea and have also decided to release a CD of this type precisely in the hottest months of the year. Perhaps because their "The giant" is less oppressive than what was done in the past. Beyond unnecessary considerations on the relationship between a musical genre and its climatic "completion," it's worth obtaining the latest effort of the captain of the Pequod.

A successful and interesting work, starting from the artwork.

1. "Further South" (8:55)
2. "Aeons Elapse" (12:44)
3. "Deliverance (Shouting At The Dead)" (7:53)
4. "Antarctica The Polymorphess" (11:45)
5. "Fathoms Deep Below" (9:08)
6. "The Giant" (10:36)