Ahab

The German doom and sludge metal trio Ahab developed such an intense fixation on maritime subjects that they affixed a sticker to their debut full-length release, The Call of the Wretched Sea from 2006, which characterized the music for curious listeners as "Nautik Funeral Doom." Their band name itself originated from seafaring stories, specifically drawing from Herman Melville's famous novel about the fixated commander of the Pequod who hunted a massive white whale. Every album they have issued afterward has featured a nautical motif in its title, continuing through The Boats of Glen Carrig in 2015.

Ahab formed in 2004 in Esslingen when musicians from Midnattsol and Penetralia came together: guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist Daniel Droste, guitarist Christian Hector, and Stephan Adolph from Endzeit handling bass and backing vocals. United by a shared passion for the sea along with its legends of exploration and ruin, the group put out a debut single at year's end consisting solely of the twelve-and-a-half-minute A-side "The Stream." They followed that in April 2005 with the four-song demo The Oath, three tracks of which exceeded ten minutes, while Droste and Hector handled the drum programming. Their intricate, nearly overpowering, and nearly motionless funeral dirges, treated with severe sonics, attracted notice from listeners and journalists worldwide and eventually reached Napalm Records, which signed the band late that year.

In 2006 they issued The Call of the Wretched Sea, with guest Cornelius Althammer of Ekranoplan supplying the drums. He remained for the subsequent tours and received an invitation to become a full member. The extreme music community responded quickly and extensively with praise; multiple outlets hailed them as natural heirs to doom originators Skepticism and Esoteric, while others positioned them as the 21st-century embodiment of funeral doom metal. The album marked Adolph's last appearance on record with Ahab. He continued supporting live dates and performances into early 2008 before stepping away from music for a period. He later reemerged as guitarist for Stillborn and Midnattsol.

Before entering the studio for their second album, Ahab brought in Dead Eyed Sleeper guitarist Stephan Wandernoth as permanent bassist. Their sophomore full-length, The Divinity of Oceans, appeared in 2009 as a concept work centered on the actual ordeals of Captain Pollard and the crew of the whaling vessel The Essex. After leaving a Nantucket Island port, the ship suffered storm damage four days later, then endured a further disaster when a huge sperm whale rammed and sank it, forcing the survivors to collect whatever provisions remained and flee in the three surviving lifeboats. With broader distribution, the record earned favorable notices from numerous critics who highlighted both progressive and neo-psych leanings in Droste's playing as well as the band's expert deployment of negative space to launch ideas. Ahab undertook successful European and Australian support tours.

The Giant arrived in 2012. Produced, mixed, recorded, and mastered by Jens Siefert, the band added the remaining Dead Eyed Sleeper guitarist Peter Eifflaender to form a three-guitar frontline. The album became their most widely received and debated effort. Considerably more atmospheric than prior material, the songs developed at a slower pace while the group unusually experimented by folding in prog, jazz, ambient music, and clean vocals provided by Enslaved's Herbrand Larsen within more deliberately structured melodic pieces. Even so, Ahab's essential doom weight stayed intact. Worldwide tours followed over the next two years, establishing the band as a significant force in international doom and prog metal circles and winning new followers drawn to The Giant, the group's most lyrical and atmospheric release to that point.

In 2015 the band released their fourth studio album, The Boats of the Glen Carrig, a concept work based on the 1907 horror novel of the same name by William Hope Hodgson concerning shipwreck survivors who meet strange creatures while attempting to return home. Produced by Ahab with Siefert handling recording and mixing, the five-song set contrasted even more melodic dirge-like elegies against their heaviest guitar and bass tones yet. Critics nevertheless viewed it as an extension of the advances heard on The Giant while noting that it more completely absorbed the experimental elements into a unified approach. The following support tours placed them on the main stage at Roadburn and at virtually every other major metal festival worldwide. Digital streams and sales elevated the band's visibility to a fresh height, securing placements on most metal charts. Afterward the individual members all took extended breaks following two-and-a-half years of touring, many focusing on separate projects. In 2017 Ahab performed The Call of the Wretched Sea in full at Jena's Death Row Fest in Germany to mark its tenth anniversary, unaware that their label Napalm was recording the concert. Later named one of the Top 100 Doom Metal recordings of all time by Decibel, the label proposed releasing it, though the process took until summer 2020. Co-produced by Althammer and Stefan Braunschmidt and issued as Live Prey, the album's sound captured Ahab's musical growth refracted through the original record's aggression and force. Live Prey entered the metal charts a week after release.