ITP REVIEW: AHAB THE DIVINITY OF OCEANS

BAND: AHAB (GERMANY) GENRE: FUNERAL DOOM LABEL:NAPALM RECORDS RELEASE DATE(S) (DIVINITY OF OCEANS): 22.07.2009 – Finland, Spain
24.07.2009 – Switzerland, Sweden, Benelux, France, Italy
27.07.2009 – Rest of Europe
28.07.2009 – Canada
07.08.2009 – Germany, Austria
22.09.2009 – USA



PREVIOUS RELEASES (CATALOG): DIVINITY OF OCEANS (2009-NAPALM RECORDS), THE CALL OF THE WRETCHED SEA (2007-DEVIANT RECORDS), THE OATH (2007-DEVIANT RECORDS)


BEST RELEASE: THE CALL OF THE WRETCHED SEA (2007-DEVIANT RECORDS)

AHAB: DIVINITY OF OCEANS
TRACKLISTING:                                                                                                                                        1. Yet Another Raft of The Medusa (Pollard's Weakness)
2. The Divinity Of Oceans
3. O Father Sea
4. Redemption Lost
5. Tombstone Carousal
6. Gnawing Bones (Coffin's Lot)
7. Nickerson's Theme



ITP RATING: ***
PRODUCTION: ***
SONGWRITING:***
PERFORMANCE: *** 1/2

Ahoy, mate..Arise from your slumber, you are at sea, floating on the water..
AHAB are a funeral doom band from GERMANY, and a damn good one. As Atlanta, Georgia's MASTODON used the concept of the classic Herman Melville novel "Moby Dick" for 2004's LEVATHIAN, Germany's AHAB conceptually are obsessed with all of that which revolves around the ocean and sea. AHAB was the tyrannical captain of the Pequod who is driven by a maniacal desire to kill MOBY DICK the whale.
Germany's AHAB caught my attention with their 2007 release "Call of The Wretched Sea" with it's abysmal, isolated atmosphere and ambient guitar melodies.
AHAB's "The Divinity of Oceans" sheds the brutality and ominous atmosphere of previous releases for a more streamlined sound of ambient, death/ doom, clean and death metal vocal transitions. With songs that range from 7 and a half to 12 and a half minutes AHAB give plenty of room for dark, melancholic atmosphere and brutality.
AHAB's "The Divinity of Oceans" kicks off with "Yet Another Raft of The Medusa" with it's lightly strummed intro and peddle effects inducing a melancholy feel of a boat floating on the moonlit sea. At 1:52 of "Yet Another Raft for Medusa", AHAB kick in at full throttle, for an excellent funeral doom tune, with it's slow, creepy, tempo and riff changes. Awesome clean, atmospheric vocals back up this song for a calling out of isolation.
The title track " THE DIVINITY OF OCEANS" kicks in with a doom/sludge, psychedelic feel.
3:05 into the title track of " THE DIVINITY OF OCEANS", the song shifts into a beautiful melancholic texture, with expressive clean vocals, and back into funeral doom territory.
"Oh Father Sea" the shortest song on " The Divinity of Oceans" (7:06) splashes us with waves of death and clean vocals, and 3:40 into the song, huge waves of riff changes pummel the listener as as the song washes to shore.
"Redemption Lost" opens as a post rock instrumental with clean, atmospheric, almost Gregorian chant vocals. UNTIL: 5:30 into "Redemption Lost" where the clean to death metal vocal transition comes in and at 6:45 sweeps into a floating creepy, melancholic, atmospheric territory.
"Tomb Stone Carousal" is as death doom as it gets with a bluesy sludge that would make Black Sabbath and Eye Hate God proud, and Daniel Droste's excellent guttural death growls. At 3:24 "Tomb Stone Carousal" takes a left turn into a melancholy, ambient transition, ending "TSC" in melodic death doom territory.
"Gnawing Bones (Coffins Lot)" begins as funeral doom with clean vocals and a back and forth death doom/death vocal transition throughout the song. Then the floor drops in "Gnawing Bones" from funeral doom to an ambient, atmospheric transition. The back and forth transition of clean to death vocals, ambient to heavy, melodic death, sludge, to funeral doom is quite the ambition, as there is some potential here.
AHABS "The Divinity of Oceans" closes with "Nickerson's Theme", again with some crushing riffage, and the clean/death vocal transitions.
While, I understand AHAB's goal, (lofty as it is) regarding death to clean vocals, brutal to atmospheric, ambient and death to funeral doom transitions. THE DIVINITY OF OCEANS amalgamation of these elements may be incohesive as the ambient passages could be better written and used sparingly. Perhaps these death vs. ambient transitions is an ambition of AHAB to upgrade past the obscure sub genre of funeral doom. AHABS "THE DIVINITY OF OCEANS" occasionally experiments with sludge and stoner doom, as I don't mind. AHABS "Divinity Of Oceans" is awesome with the ambient textures and clean vocals, Daniel Droste performs these vocal transitions well.
While I'm not necessarily shipwrecked on "The Divinity of Oceans" as the waters are quite calm compared to AHAB's previous release.
Best song on DIVINITY OF OCEANS: 1. Yet Another Raft of The Medusa (Pollard's Weakness)

ITP RATING: ***
PRODUCTION: ***
SONGWRITING:***
PERFORMANCE: *** 1/2


AHAB: THE DIVINITY OF OCEANS: http://spak-individualthoughtpatterns.blogspot.com/2009/07/itp-review-ahab-divinity-of-oceans.html

Ahoy, the wonders of the Sea beckon, and I love AHAB's clean and death vocals..
I feel that I'm floating on the Sea and yes, the boat sways, looking for Whale and fish, as we are doomed in these waters in a constant journey for land. I will choose the Sea. All aboard, as "Yet Another Raft of The Medusa (Pollard's Weakness)"=a classic tune from a criminally underrated band.

ITP ORIGINAL RATING:
ITP RATING: ***
PRODUCTION: ***
SONGWRITING:***
PERFORMANCE: *** 1/2

ITP RE RATE: ****
PRODUCTION: ****
SONGWRITING:*** 1/2
PERFORMANCE: ****

Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-Dooom onnnnn- \m/ -l-