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Ahab: The divinity of oceans

05/06/12 || The Duff

I’ve been fortunate with the recent clearing of reviews. Here I am reviewing Ahab’s masterpiece “The Divinity of Oceans”, another marine-themed funeral doom album from this now four-piece German ensemble. The band’s past record, “The Call of the Wretched Sea”, is according to many a claustrophobic epic of dirge and despair. It centred around the tale of Moby Dick. I dig it, but that’s about it; this record here has a fourth member put to maximum use as opposed to one guy writing all the guitar parts, layers of music altogether more evocative, a thicker, sweeter and more sorrowful production, and a tale to chill the bones. Even Lil’ Wayne has written a concept album about Moby fucking Dick.

Although it’s not white and it only makes an appearance in the bedroom?

So yeah, “The Call…” to me is a solid funeral doom metal album, with solid riffs, but it’s very linear and more repetitive than people lead on, I reckon. “The Divinity of Oceans” is a varied concept album that is one of very few that transports me to live the story. The tale told is a non-fictional one about The Essex) (erm… about which “Moby Dick” was inspired), and centres around a boat’s crew suffering troublesome times following a whale attack; like, “cannibalism” troublesome times. So emotionally wrought is this record that throughout its duration I’m sitting alongside men who’re sobbing into the gristled limbs of their cabin-boy.

Here we find a mixture of real simple, atmospheric riffs, Esoteric-y cleans with alternating use of reverb, delay and what appears a flanger (for that feeling of undulating currents), atmospheric leads, heavy as balls, simple and atmospheric riffs, and then the true to Sabbath slowed to a trawl ‘sweet merciful I’ve never seen testes so big’ riffs. Yeah, I might be hinting at the atmosphere on this record – it’s thicker than loss itself. Ahab also turn to Candlemass far more than I’ve ever heard Esoteric or Evoken do; it’s quite an embarrassingly obvious influence that juts out at times, probably the one time you might smile while listening to the album, but welcome nonetheless.

One way though in which “The Divinity of Oceans” shits all over “The Call of the Wretched Sea” is with the more versatile vocals of Daniel Droste. We have the bellows as on the last record, as well as the deep, resonant cleans to represent the sorrow, the solitude, the fear of death. But then we also have the rage, the torment and madness (9:12 of “Yet Another Raft…” or 9:02 of “Redemption Lost”, it’s like you can hear the man ripping his hair out for the most genuine effect), and what sounds like a frail, nautical Vortex from Arcturus’ “Sideshow Symphonies” – the vocal range on this disc carries us to exactly where the nightmare took place.

Altogether we have one of the most vivid concept albums ever written. It’s like experiencing the storms, the crashing waves, the night-chill, the sunshine, the glimmers of hope, the calm with hours stretching by parched and drained of energy, the humanity, the danger, the hatred, the anger, the despair, the survival, the brotherhood, the conversations with a wrathful God, the acceptance, hints of euphoric dementia, the cannibalism. This album is one of the best of its kind hands down, and flawless as far as I’m concerned where the promising debut was just a string of riffs about Lil’ Wayne’s cock.

9,5

Information
Released: 2009
Label: Napalm Records
Website: Ahab MySpace
Band
Daniel Droste: vocals, guitars
Chris Hector: guitars
Cornelius Althammer: drums
Stephan Wandernoth: bass

Tracklist
01. Yet Another Raft of the Medusa (Pollard’s Weakness)
02. The Divinity of Oceans
03. O Father Sea
04. Redemption Lost
05. Tombstone Carousal
06. Gnawing Bones (Coffin’s Lot)
07. Nickerson’s Theme

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