Band:	Ahab
Album:	The Boats Of The Glen Carrig
Style:	Funeral doom metal
Release date:	August 28, 2015
A review by:	BitterCOld

01. The Isle
02. The Thing That Made Search
03. Like Red Foam (The Great Storm)
04. The Weedmen
05. To Mourn Job
06. The Light In The Weed (Mary Madison) [bonus]

Don't call it a comeback. They've been crushing us for years.

Ahab, now on their IVth album, continue their maritime theme as the masters of nautical funeral doom tell the story of the crew of The Boats Of Glenn Danzig. Sailors, adrift in two life boats, beginning their Long Way Back From Hell, a tale of Blood And Tears as they are attacked by pre-Lovecraftian beasts Not Of This World in an attempt to make it home to London.

This is one Mother of an album.

Ok, an end to cheesy Danzig puns, they couldn't be helped, though the summation of The Boats Of "Glen-Carrig" by William Hope Hodgson apparently reads very similarly. Or so Wikipedia tells me. Sorry, had time to listen to the album a dozen times, but not dig up a copy of the book. Just couldn't resist.

What matters most is that this is a return to form from Ahab, rather than continuing the rather skewed path of The Giant. After The Call Of The Wretched Sea and The Divinity Of Oceans, The Giant seemed a hop, a skip and a jump, from points A to B to F on the development chart. TBoGC is much more akin to the first two, particularly Divinity, at least IMBO.

The focus is the rather ocean-like tidal flux between quieter moments and clean vocals that lull you in like calm waters and clear skies before the Tsunami-force doomcrush riffs slam into the listener like that fearsome storm did to the SS Minnow*. This dichotomy is what drives my interest most, the musical and emotional shifting between lament to dread to absolute doom and back to just some light mourning. The band further mix things up, with mid-paced, clearly \m/MEtAL\m/ riffs joined by clean vocals, a la "Red Foam".

Also of equal importance to the style is the emotion and impact. Doom is more than just hammering out a power chord and letting it resonate for 3 minutes while you chug a beer with your strum hand. It's about imparting and impacting the listener. It must evoke something in the listener else it comes across boring or riffing by (very, very slowly counted) numbers. As mentioned in the path prior, the ebbs and flows between styles combined with the vibe makes this album something that draws you in and enables you to live, at least imagine yourself undergoing the trials and tribulations of the seaman trying to live to see just one more day When The Dying Calls.

Sorry, couldn't risk just putting one more in there.

In the meantime, suffice it to say Ahab have returned in mighty fashion.

Sail and Kill!



*Hey, Ahab, if you read this, perhaps "Gilligan's Island" might make good source material for your next? I'd at least love to hear a 10 minute nautik funeral doom version of the theme song. I'm positive you could turn the cheerful tune into the most harrowing and foreboding of ordeals.