Ahab – The Coral Tombs
Release Date: 13th January 2023
Label: Napalm Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Nautik Doom
FFO: Mournful Congregation, Evoken, Esoteric, Bell Witch.
Review By: Paul Cairney
The 5th album by German Doom band, Ahab, is based on the famous book by Jules Verne, ’20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’. This continues the thematic leanings of the band to record albums based on nautical based books. The Coral Tombs comes out a mere 8 years after their 4th studio release, The Boats of the Glen Carrig’ and it has a lot to live up to.
The first point that should be made is that this a long album. Clocking in at well over an hour long, with only 1 track coming in at under 8 minutes, it is an album that requires time, and also a little patience.
The Coral Tombs is not an album that you can delve into and listen to a few tracks, then go and potter about. No, in order to get the most out of it, especially in the early days, you need to set the time aside and sink into the embrace of each of the 7 tracks on offer. Only then will you appreciate all the subtleties of the album, in addition to its glorious heaviness. More of this later.
Ahab coined their sound as ‘Nautik Doom’, claiming to have invented a genre….. However, their sound is more than that. The Coral Tombs is as progressive a Doom album as you will ever hear, even more so than its predecessor. Having read ’20,000 Leagues…’ many, many years ago, it is welcoming to hear the band accompany you across its pages. Ahab somehow manage to capture the sentiment of the book across the tracks, devastating heaviness and dirty vocals relate to the exciting prose, juxtaposed with softer, almost melancholic sections relating to the more sedate aspects of the book. It is rather impressive.
The single biggest issue with the album is the length, but to be fair, Ahab albums are always long. They’ve been at this now for 20 years or so, so it is unfair to use this as a criticism. The basic upshot is, if you don’t like long albums, this isn’t for you. Yes, you can enjoy the individual tracks, each is unique and captivating in their own way, but you will miss out. The Coral Tombs ebbs and flows its way across its run-time, just when songs teeter on the edge, a crushing riff pushes you back, crashing all over you.
Unfortunately, Napalm Records, provide a stream for us reviewers to listen to. This meant, that for me at least, each track didn’t always follow straight away as it would on a physical format, and so it took a good few listens for me to be able to hear the album flow in the way it was intended. When the stream worked, it took you from the earth to the moon.
Ahab have a niche, even their name is taken from Herman Melville’s book about a white whale, ‘Moby Dick’, and it would be easy for them to become a parody. It is by their own pure talent that this doesn’t happen, and whilst The Coral Tombs may not quite hit the heights as ‘The Boats of the Glen Carrig’, it is a worthy addition to their discography.
(4 / 5)
