Sombre Arcane

Fans of cult Doomsters AHAB, pay attention! AHOY! I am going to tell you good news: Ahab decided to kick our ass with a new ultra nautical Album "The Divinity of Oceans". This release is nothing less than perfect. As far as I’m concerned the band is at the doorstep of a mythical mission: hunting Moby Dick. Let’s just hope they get the support they merit! I decided to put their boat in the spotlights for a moment; by going with their leader Daniel into a journey through the wretched sea.

Goebbels: Nautical hails Daniel! To start things, how are you doing ?

I’m fine, thank you very much. At the moment we’re preparing for our forthcoming tour through Germany with DORNENREICH .That will be our first tour with AHAB and we are really looking forward to it.

Goebbels: Now, let’s talk about the new boat The Divinity of Oceans. Seriously, I would like to congratulate you with this divine subject. I mean, what a marvellous effort; one of the best materials I have heard in a long while. What do you think of it yourself ? Is the band satisfied ?

Of course we are satisfied with the material. It was a hard peace of work for all of us. This was the first time we recorded on our own, and I was really a bit afraid that there’ll be a lot of unexpected problems during the recording process...actually there were strange technical difficulties as always, but in the end everything ended fine and I am really satisfied with our new little baby.

Goebbels: Secondly, I have to say that your progress is enormous. Your last ship is built with the same bases but decorated with many new elements and all this beauty helped you to hunt not only Moby Dick but also every fan of the genre (haha). In any way, how would you compare the two albums ? Which aspects show similarities and which are different ?

There are more differences than similarities I guess. The sound is much better this time, the music is more complex, and I used more clean vocals than on “the call of the wretched sea”. We still play slow, dark and heavy music with nautical lyrics....but the whole project has reached the next level with “the divinity of oceans”.

Goebbels: And what aspect of this new release do you feel sets you guys apart from the rest ?

Well I guess that it would be easier for the listener to answer that question. We’re composing the music, and the listener has to build his own opinion about the result.

Goebbels: And how does Ahab go about writing songs ? Do you try to ensure that each song has some surprising or different element ?

There was no master plan or something like that. I just collected ideas in my home studio, and we choose the best parts out of that to build the songs. Every musician is trying to create his music as interesting as possible I guess....I love contrasts within songs, maybe that created the surprising elements that you were asking for.

Goebbels: I would like to delve deeper into some features of your new material. Your compositions are pretty accessible and there's a lot happening at the same time. Furthermore, the use of solos is particularly interesting since they not only play a supporting role but also take the lead at times. Could you tell us a bit more about this employ ?

First of all, I have to say that I’m not a typical solo guitarist. Although I like some stuff of Slayer, I hate most of heir solos because they mostly use them just to make their sound noisier. I prefer melodic stuff that supports or sometimes even leads the song. I try to avoid playing too much solo stuff, playing fewer solos makes them more specials when they appear.

Goebbels: I hesitated before asking this question but I must bring up that. Some solos sound oriental and throw up a middle-eastern aspect (especially O Father Sea). Do you agree with my impression ?

Definitely! I like this oriental touch very much, and it’s always a nice tool to keep a solo or a riff interesting, just one reason why i always enjoy listening to old AMORPHIS cds.

Goebbels: Normally this question would appear somewhere at the bottom of the interview, but clean vocals are more present and symbolize a real striking weapon to mesmerize your whale (Haha). Tell us a bit about the orientation you made and the consequences for your work. Did you incorporate them to make your release more dreamful and seafaring ? In other hand, did creating a balance between your vomiting screams and your clean voices cost a lot of effort or was it all natural ?

Creating the balance between clean vocals and screams was all natural and i made the decision quite quick what kind of singing I want to use on which part. I decided to use more clean vocals to give the singing a bigger variety. The music is more complex this time so i wanted to adapt the vocals to that. Of course clean vocals additionally are an important stylistic device for us that help to support special moods we wanted to compose within the songs.

Goebbels: The drumming on the album is speckled! Done by Althammer, how much of an impact did he have on the musical direction of The Divinity of Oceans ?

In my opinion his drum play is an important trademark of our sound, because he simply shows that drums in doom-metal don’t have to sound boring just because they’re played quite slowly. He composed all his drumlines to the riffs I wrote at my home studio...so he wasn’t directly involved in the composing process of each song but nevertheless added a lot of creativity via his dynamic drum play to the material.

Goebbels: What do you think of the much cited metaphor that Ahab’s music is like reading Herman Melville’s book, visiting unexplored islands and admiring marine creatures ? Can you give us your own metaphor ?

I would describe it as a journey, from the surface to the depths, through storm and waves...oppressive and beautiful.

Goebbels: In The Call of the Wretched Sea you developed the story of Moby Dick. However, in the opener of the new material Yet Another Raft of the Medusa we illustrated the presence of another animal: The Medusa. Haha, I haven’t gotten the idea yet that you can use an entirely ocean and its creatures as an inspiration. In any way, why the Medusa ? Or did I miss something ?

The cover artwork we used for “the divinity of oceans” is entitled “Le Radeau de La Meduse”. The opening track just deals with the situation that is illustrated on our cover.

Goebbels: The lyrics of TDOO have always been written in old English. Does it serve as a metaphor for a certain aged stories, or is it just that you are able to write stronger lyrics, lyrics that fit the music better ?

Old English sounds much more superior to my ears. The Book of Owen Chase on which this record is lyrically based is written in old English too so it was just logical for us that we have to assume that detail.

Goebbels: Where did the interest for the concept of the marine world come from ? Is it just to make your own musical and conceptual path or….emmmmm… did you had your personal history with the sea ?

I like reading, watching movies and documentaries about this topic since I was a child I guess. I remember that friends of my grand parents had a house at the North Sea; my family often passed their holiday there. That was always something very special for me.

Goebbels: What are your feelings now when you contemplate the sea at dawn? I know that is so marvellous but anyway…

The sea in general is something very fascinating and beautiful, the quite sea at dawn such as stormy waves. Just the sound of it has something very calming.

Goebbels: What’s next on the agenda ? What do you want to accomplish with Ahab in the near and distant future ? Added to that, do we have to wait again for three years for the next voyage ?

Our aim at the moment is to promote our new record and to play live as often as possible. We’ll be on tour here in Germany in September, headline a small festival in Belgium and maybe add another show in Italy...that’s it for 2009 so far. I already started to record some new ideas, but it’s much too early to talk about the release date of the next long player. But believe me; I don’t want to wait three years either. 

Goebbels: What are your feelings when you play in a Mediterranean beach…I don’t know, Tunisia as an example

Well i never had the chance to experience that, but maybe you could arrange something haha! I guess that would be the perfect scenery for an AHAB show, would be really awesome.

Goebbels: Can we see your boat in our port one day ?

We play wherever we can and we’d love to visit your beautiful country one day. The main problem about that is that many organizers of club shows or small festivals aren’t able to pay the flights...I also never thought that’d we’d be able to play in Canada so...nothing’s impossible.

Goebbels: Well, if there is nothing left that you’d like to mention, I think we can wrap it up for this time. But please, next time, when you will hunt Moby Dick or the colossal medusa again, don’t forgive me please, take me with you guys…I will be a useful member in you boat, haha!

If you’re able to hunt, we can think about that.

Goebbels: What? No, thank you! I will not finish my life inside the stomach of a fish…I am able just to cook…

Haha, I really appreciated your questions Djihad. Thank you very much for the interview!

Cheers to all Tunisian metal heads,

Daniel+AHAB!