Funeral Doom is not for everyone. If you aren’t in the right mood for it then the chances are it will just be a complete waste of your time. That is why I believe AHAB is such a big band. They managed to make a “difficult” style more accessible to everyone.
“The Giant” is the band’s newest album and once more we are dealing with a concept album based on a novel. This time it’s Edgar Allan Poe’s only novel, “The Narrative of Arthur Gorden Pym of Nantucket” that inspired the lyrical section of the album and as you might have guessed the water element is dominant.
In “The Giant” it is obvious that the band is trying to take its sound one step further by incorporating even non-Metal elements to the album’s compositions. For example, one can easily track jazz elements in the calm sections of the songs. The experimentations do not stop there. AHAB have slightly increased the tempo on this album which might not be enough to classify them as a Thrash Metal band but it’s sure enough to place them somewhere in the borderline of the Funeral Doom genre.
Droste’s adopts a clean singing style in much more extend. The Death growls now act more like interludes rather than the main attraction. Besides the growls you will also come across with a whispering style, as well as a throated screaming style which is quite impressive.
This album invests much in the creation of atmosphere. I wouldn’t call it dark atmosphere, as there are many epic and romantic/melodic parts. In any case, the atmospheric parts are much more extensive thus guitars may give the impression that have lost something from their heaviness which is not true. The riffs are as always simple but yet they retain their bone-crashing character. The lead guitars and solos are nothing less than absolute magic.
Even with its new elements the new AHAB album is nothing you wouldn’t expect. It’s not their best album, not their slowest one, not even their most extreme one but it doesn’t fall below the high standards of the band. Fans of the band will be satisfied while songs like “Antarctica The Polymorphess” and “Deliverance” will attract more fans to the band. This is perhaps the most epic moment of the band.
