Ahab playing sludge metal?! Surprising, but I liked it.

Written by Paz on 29.04.2012 at 14:25

Ahab playing sludge metal?! Surprising, but I liked it.

Sludge

No sludge there.

Clearly post metal

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 29.04.2012 at 14:27

Clearly post metal

Atmospheric sludge metal = post-metal for me.

Written by Paz on 29.04.2012 at 14:25
Ahab playing sludge metal?! Surprising, but I liked it.

What the fuck am I reading?

Whatever, it's great! I can't wait to hear the rest of the album. :-)

Granted, it's different from their previous material, but I can't stop listening to it. My expectations for this album just sky-rocketed.

Decided I won't check this, but I remember being a bit disappointed with it when the second teaser came out. On the other hand Further South (the song featured on the first teaser) sounds massive, so we'll have to wait and see

Like I said once... This is just dissapointing compared to what this guys can do.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 29.04.2012 at 16:03

Like I said once... This is just dissapointing compared to what this guys can do.

true that. The best by far by them is still their debut. Hopefully it's just this song that is disappointing, but I have my doubts.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 29.04.2012 at 16:05

Written by X-Ray Rod on 29.04.2012 at 16:03

Like I said once... This is just dissapointing compared to what this guys can do.

true that. The best by far by them is still their debut. Hopefully it's just this song that is disappointing, but I have my doubts.

Same here... :\ Also, lolz at people thinking this is sludge.

Yeah it's hard to just forget their debut in light of tracks like this one. The song is OK but sounds underwhelming to me.

Awesome album art.

It is superfluous to compare this with debut, which dense atmosphere just kills...

And btw, I lolz at people who believed that I was serious with that sludge.

I liked it.

I loved this. Really great stuff.

And I'd still call it doom. And my original thoughts are confirmed; they finally nailed the production, in that everything finally sounds right.

Written by Paz on 29.04.2012 at 18:02
I lolz at people who believed that I was serious with that sludge.

If that was sarcasm, it was extremely vague. Also, a lot of people can't point out the difference between sludge metal (the atmospheric kind) and post metal so your comment was pretty standard.

Written by scaesura on 29.04.2012 at 18:46

I loved this. Really great stuff.

And I'd still call it doom. And my original thoughts are confirmed; they finally nailed the production, in that everything finally sounds right.

imo the nailed the production on their debut.

Nice song, but like everyone before me said, can't compare to the debut. And also, stop genre fighting, that is the saddest thing to see, two people arguing about what genre to call a song, it's pathetic.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 29.04.2012 at 18:58
imo the nailed the production on their debut.

Exactly, one of the things I praised the most about their debut was the perfect production that enhanced the music a lot.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 29.04.2012 at 19:22

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 29.04.2012 at 18:58
imo the nailed the production on their debut.

Exactly, one of the things I praised the most about their debut was the perfect production that enhanced the music a lot.

The debut was supposed to have that kind of production, it's not like they polished the production just for the sake of being more accessible, it had something to do with the theme (I remember you guys having the same discussion in some thread )

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 29.04.2012 at 18:58

imo the nailed the production on their debut.

Eh. The production on the first two albums is, for lack of a better term... too soft? I dunno what it is, but despite the watery murk of the first one, it feels like they could have been better, more crushing. In part cause the guitars are too fuzzy and not heavy enough. They got closer with the second one I think, but there's still always been something missing. Conversely this album feels just right between "watery murk" and heaviness. The drum tone also plays a big role I think, I should add.

Written by scaesura on 29.04.2012 at 20:24
Eh. The production on the first two albums is, for lack of a better term... too soft? I dunno what it is, but despite the watery murk of the first one, it feels like they could have been better, more crushing. In part cause the guitars are too fuzzy and not heavy enough. They got closer with the second one I think, but there's still always been something missing. Conversely this album feels just right between "watery murk" and heaviness. The drum tone also plays a big role I think, I should add.

This is certainly an unusual opinion considering the biggest praise their debut gets is the production that definitely suits the music of the band. I sure as hell don't find it soft at all. I also don't know what's so fuzzy about the guitar (jeez there are waaaaaay more fuzzy guitars in funeral doom that don't even get that tag).

Written by X-Ray Rod on 29.04.2012 at 21:20

Written by scaesura on 29.04.2012 at 20:24
Eh. The production on the first two albums is, for lack of a better term... too soft? I dunno what it is, but despite the watery murk of the first one, it feels like they could have been better, more crushing. In part cause the guitars are too fuzzy and not heavy enough. They got closer with the second one I think, but there's still always been something missing. Conversely this album feels just right between "watery murk" and heaviness. The drum tone also plays a big role I think, I should add.

This is certainly an unusual opinion considering the biggest praise their debut gets is the production that definitely suits the music of the band. I sure as hell don't find it soft at all. I also don't know what's so fuzzy about the guitar (jeez there are waaaaaay more fuzzy guitars in funeral doom that don't even get that tag).

Have to agree with Mr. Doctor...the first two albums production is absolutely immaculate. Both are completely devastating (probably the debut moreso, but meh I love them both). I like the sound of the new album, but I just wish this sort of sound was used as support to their original sound (funeral), rather then be the focus of the album. The new stuff is good, but I don't know if it will compare to The Divinity of Oceans. Just my two cents.

Ahab is evolving, but I think it's a good thing. This song definitely displayed more melodic, "Post-Metal" tendencies than anything we've seen before but I thought it was good nonetheless. I wouldn't doubt the ability of Ahab to still deliver crushing heaviness though; I think this song showed that in parts. Herbrand Larsen FTW! Looking forward to the new album!

Too fast. Not huge fan of the clean vox. A bit disappointing.

Good song, I liked the clean vocals

The clean section was cool, but those clean vocals are wimpy. The song was alright, nothing special.

Its okay, but I have to compare it to their previous output and it just not as good.

The production is a bit too polished like the previous album, They should have stuck with a production job like the Wretched Sea which complimented the music almost perfectly.

This seriously better not be a post-metal album. I don't have the patience for these guys to fuck around with "evolving". More power to them if they achieve better sales or attract a wider audience, but I won't be part of their following anymore.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 30.04.2012 at 02:46

This seriously better not be a post-metal album. I don't have the patience for these guys to fuck around with "evolving". More power to them if they achieve better sales or attract a wider audience, but I won't be part of their following anymore.

That's a bit drastic. I don't know why everyone wants to argue over what "genre" they seem to be covering here, but clearly that isn't important. What is important is that they do not want to repeat themselves by having every album sound like that first one. Sure, in theory, we all want that, but really, wouldn't that get a little tiring? I think with a band like Ahab, each album is its own entity, its own exploration of something new, and the production on each album thus far has fit the music and themes quite well in my opinion. Now, that doesn't mean I haven't been angry at bands who have changed styles drastically, but certain bands pull that off and certain ones just don't. If you think about it, the core of Ahab's writing is still noticeable, just with more emphasis on clean vocals. And also, to reiterate what somebody else said earlier, I don't think this is an issue of them trying to be more accessible because if they wanted to do that, they would have joined a major label and put out a stupid album like Mastodon's "The Hunter," which is a prime example of a band who just decided that "having fun" and "getting the album done as fast as possible" (to quote Brent Hinds) is more important than challenging oneself as a songwriter. Ahab, in my opinion, is certainly still challenging themselves by putting out albums that sound quite different, yet are still very listenable and create strong atmospheres. Once they stop doing that, then maybe I would be angry, but as of now, I still believe Ahab is working hard to challenge themselves and write interesting music, whether its doom or not.