2012 is fast becoming a banner year for doom metal. We’ve already heard Swallow the Sun’s exceptional Emerald Forest and the Blackbird and
newcomer Pallbearer’s breathtaking debut Sorrow
And Extinction, and Eagle Twin will soon release their eagerly anticipated
sophomore album The Feather Tipped the
Serpent’s Scale; those are just the first three that came to mind. I’m sure
there are countless other doom albums coming out, making 2012 the perfect year
to sit next to a rainy window with a record on the turntable and a glass of
scotch in hand, and contemplating the futility and misery of the human
existence. And now German funeral doom
masters Ahab have unleashed The Giant,
just to spite you and make you cry forlorn tears into your glass while you wait
for the Mayan gods to return and release us all into oblivion.
The Giant begins
far more melodically than Ahab’s two previous LPs, both instrumentally and
vocally; vocalist Daniel Droste's harsh vocals don't show up until nearly five
minutes into the stunning first track “Further South,” but they really aren’t
missed. Droste’s clean vocals on the
album gave me chills; every note he sings is perfectly pitched to remind you of
the saddest you’ve ever been, and then pile even more misery on top of
that. His harsh vocals are fine, and
they suit the music of Ahab perfectly, but they don’t quite reach the cathartic
highs of his clean vocals. The
self-titled track is really Droste’s time to shine, as his vocals move
effortlessly between melodic singing, bellowing harsh vocals, and even a
banshee-like wail. I’d say the vocal styles are split about 50/50,
and the rest of the album is similarly balanced, with musical passages both
airily melodic and spine-crushingly heavy (often overlapping each other). Even in its heaviest moments, The Giant is unrelentingly gloomy; an oppressive
onslaught of despair that’s unsurprising given both the genre and the fact that
the album is a riff on Edgar Allan Poe’s novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
All of Ahab’s albums have a nautical theme, and The Giant is no exception. Its seven tracks work together to bring this
to life; “Aeons Elapse” and “Antarctica the Polymorphess” especially convey a
sense of vastness that evokes the oceans, bringing to mind a sense of fearful
wonder at the mysteries below the surface of the water. This is due in large part to guitarist
Christian Hector’s masterful work; while you might not see his name on a list
of the best metal guitarists, Hector’s playing is essential to Ahab’s sorrowful
atmosphere. Many doom bands rely heavily
on their rhythm section to create bleakness, but with Ahab, Hector’s guitar
riffs pave the way with their melodies, while bassist Stephan Wandernorth and
drummer Cornelius Althammer underscore them with a sense of menace and impending
doom, making you wonder whether the metaphorical ship you’re on is about to run
aground or be shredded to splinters by some nameless monster of the abyss. Droste also contributes guitar and keyboard
work, and together the quartet achieve a masterpiece of sonic anguish.
Much like Swallow the Sun’s Emerald Forest, The Giant succeeds
in not only playing doom (the genre), but also creating it within the mind of
the listener. It isn’t a happy album,
and it’s not just mellow background music.
The Giant is a beautifully
brutal album of misery, a soundtrack to wallowing in self-pity on a cold, grey
day. That actually is my only fault with
the album: as incredible as it is, I know that within two weeks, I’m going to
shelve it and not come back to it until the cold winds and barren trees of
November return. It’s not a slight
against Ahab or The Giant; the album
is easily one of the best of the year so far and is absolutely worth repeated
listens, I just think those listens will have much more weight to them at a
time when I’m not wondering if I’m wearing enough sunscreen just to run to the
store.
Don’t let something as trivial as blue skies, warm weather,
and sunshine detract you from rushing out and picking up a copy of The Giant. You can listen to it now and appreciate the
new levels of doom metal excellence that Ahab has ascended to, celebrating their haunting and melodic mastery of the style. And when the days grow shorter
and the cold rains fall, it will be waiting for you, calling your name with a rainy window, a glass of whiskey, and the insurmountable weight of the human condition.
- Durf
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