Few bands can claim the creation of a sub-genre that is band specific. Germany’s AHAB is one of those bands. The band’s creation is known as Nautic Funeral Doom. The band pulls their musical and lyrically inspiration from the ocean waters and the 1851 novel Moby Dick written by Herman Melville. The captain that guided the Pequod, the Nantucket whaling ship in the novel was Captain Ahab, hence the name of the band.
Following the memorable set at Death Row Fest 2017, the festival in-house sound engineer presented the band data of the performance. The result is Live Prey, AHAB’s first live album.
The release contains the finest from the band’s performance. Even though only five tracks make up Live Prey, the album clocks in at 63:00 of pure Nautic Funeral Doom. Oddly, the five tracks on Live Prey all come from the band’s 2006 critically acclaimed debut titled The Call of the Wretched Sea.
With Live Prey, the listener experiences monstrous riffs, thick flowing grooves, eerie and keyboard melodies. Just add in low end guttural vocal growls and haunting spoken and choral words to finely top off the album.
The first three tracks, “Below the Sun,” “The Pacific” and “Old Thunder” follows the tracking on the band’s debut with opener setting the tone for Live Prey. The shortest of these three, “The Pacific” runs 10:34 with “Old Thunder” at 10:37 and “Below the Sea” at 12:54.
The remaining two, the 12:57 “Ahab’s Oath” where the lyrics are Melville’s written words and the 16:55 magnum opus “The Hunt” do not.
As “The Hunt” fades, the sound ocean waves come crashing in. Heavy low noted keyboards flow from stage. This brings an end to the hunt for the great white beast as illustrated on the cover.
The album arrangment is ideal for an entire listening experience enhanced by reading the lyrics. In doing so will result in a mind numbing heavy musical experience of an oceanic quest for Moby Dick. It’s definitely a different offering of doom metal.
The Nantucket departs on Friday, June 26 via Napalm Records for a unique and audial adventure. Explore the depths of deep doom for the live prey, Moby Dick.
