Ahab
Fathoms Deep Below

16.01.2015

What writers and their works come to your mind first when you speak about “musical adaptations” of books by metal bands? I’m pretty sure that these will be the works of JRR Tolkien, George Martin and other fantasy and sci fi writers. It may seem that the whole layer of classical literature is pretty much overlooked by metalheads. However, that’s not the case, and German doom metallers Abah is the best proof of that. You will never find dragons, elves or fairies in their lyrics, the sea is the main force here, as the band members are inspired by Herman Melville’s novel called “Moby Dick”. We touched upon this novel, as well as on other sources of their inspiration, in the interview below which I did in the press area of Germany’s Summer Breeze festival the day after Ahab played there in 2014.

First of all, let me congratulate you on the successful show you did yesterday.

Christian Hector (guitar): Thanks.

I've seen it, it was really good. So, how do you feel about it and the festival?

Christian: Really great! I mean, we've been here for the forth time. They gave us the opportunity to play here when we just had the first record out (“The Call Of The Wretched Sea”, 2006) at 8 o'clock in Tent (he refers to the roofed stage, renamed T-Stage this year – ed.). This year was the biggest ever and it was awesome. We had the light engineer of Slayer, he's a friend of ours and he did the light show that was great.

What was the biggest crowd you've ever played for in your life?

Christian: Last night maybe, or maybe Brutal Assault. Brutal Assault was big as well.

Did you like Brutal Assault?

Christian: I wasn't there, we had a session guitarist back then, but they can tell you.
Daniel Droste (guitar, vocals): Quite similar, I guess.

I also play in a couple of bands so I think that so slow music is very hard to play, because it's hard to play with a drummer, who has to be exactly on time. In your opinion, is there anything special in playing doom, especially funeral doom?

Christian: It is hard to play. You have to play precise, you have to be in time, because if you are half a second away from the other, it sounds shitty.
Daniel: It’s impossible to hide mistakes. If you make a mistake, everybody sees it.

Ok, and you probably play after the metronome, not before...

Christian: A bit later can be better, I guess.

I know you're bit tired of such questions, but how the idea of forming a doom metal band came to the guys who played folk metal in Midnattsol?

Christian: To be honest we started out as death metal guys, so we had some bands before. When our former band Penetralia was gone, I met Carmen (Elise Espenaes, vocals), she'd just moved to Stuttgart. I was in Stuttgart, I didn't have a band and I asked her if she'd like to do something. Then I asked the other guys, and we just did it, and the first album (“Where Twilight Dwells”, 2005) was really successful. But then… I don't know, it just wasn't really my music, but I recognized that after the second album (“Nordlys”, 2008) probably. It was the same with Daniel, I think, we just wanted to do something we were really into.

Was that the definite reason for you to leave Midnattsol? Just not your kind of music?

Christian: Well, actually for me it was... I really like the voice of Carmen on the first album, but on the second album Carmen suddenly tried to do this opera stuff and I don't like that. I didn't hear the vocals before they were recorded and then I was a bit disappointed. Ahab was there and it was really cool to play there, to do the music and write the lyrics. On top of that, I had a family, girlfriend and stuff like that back then, and I didn't have the time for both bands. I had to decide and I decided for Ahab.
Daniele: Well, I just joined Midnattson because Christian wanted to have a second solo guitarist in studio and all band members were like old friends, so it was like a fun thing and I liked playing it. But after he left, it was like the idea of what the band is, the way of working, wasn't our way to work. We also had the other band where I was a founding member, this was like our baby, so we wanted to concentrate on it.  

One of the things that I admire in your band is the main source of inspiration: "Moby Dick", a novel by Herman Melville. What does this whale, Moby Dick, mean to you? Is it a symbol of nature's revenge or doom or whatever?

Christian: Of course, the novel fits perfectly into the doom thing, but for me it's not really the nature's revenge but the obsession with something. There are so many characters like that in history and in books and it's pretty interesting that people can be so obsessed with something and do really stupid and really, I don't know, ruthless things. That's what, I think, is the most interesting part of the novel.

And has every member of your band read this book?

All: Yes.

I'm reading it in the moment, I've not yet finished.

Christian: It's not that easy to read because sometimes there are really long passages. But in the end it's a good book.

Yeah. Now let's talk about other sources of inspiration you have. What bands have had the biggest influence on you?

Christian: On the first album, it was Esoteric and Tyranny…
Daniel: Old Anathema ...
Christian: For Daniel’s solo stuff, Opeth as well. I like Shape Of Despair a lot, even though for him it's too melodic.

And what about traditional doom metal stuff like Candlemass or Solitude Aeturnus?

Daniel: I like Candlemass albums after they changed the singer, “King Of The Grey Islands” is a great one, or traditional stuff like Warning, the old stuff, maybe old Pentagram.
Cornelius Althammer (drums): What was this classic album of Candlemass? (sings) "Sunrise I great you, the beauty of your light"... (The album is called “Nightfall”, and the song is “At The Gallows End” – ed.) I have the original tape in my car. I listen to it all day long.

What about Mastodon's album “Leviathan” (2004) (it is also based on “Moby Dick” – ed.)? Have you heard it, do you like it, do you listen to such music?

Christian: Actually, I got into the album way later, I didn't like it when I heard it first. But the one with “Crystal Skull” on it (“Blood Mountain”, 2006), was the first one I really liked by Mastodon and that's when I first really recognized the band as a great band.
Daniel: “Leviathan” is a good album but it is a completely different interpretation…

Yeah, I know, I'm just interested in your attitude to such kind of music.

Christian: They are really great musicians!

Let's return to your yesterday's show. I also play guitar so I'm interested what kind of equipment do you use? Is it a pedalboard or a digital thing?

Christian: All we got are pedalboards nowadays. Back then we used Boss GT-8...
Daniel: ...this multi-effect processor but like two years ago, I guess, we changed to single pedals, because they have a better sound. A pedalboard is easy to transport, and you can do your individual stuff you want to. It's more expensive...
Christian: ...but it sounds way better!

So, you're a fan of analogue sound, not digital...

Christian: Yes!
Daniel: Of course!
Cornelius: Try this company, Strymon!

Strymon?

Cornelius: Strymon. They make great sound machines, nearly everything that they do is a unique thing and they sound pretty brilliant! Strymon Blue Sky (reverberator pedal – ed.), for example.
Christian, Daniel: El Capistan, Orbit (flanger – ed.)
Cornelius Althammer: Our bass player (Stephan Wandernorth) uses Big Muff Distortion.

Have you listened to any other bands at this festival?

Christian: Devin Townsend. He's a god. I think he's the only artist that made metalheads dance. I mean, not headbang but dance.
Cornelius: Even security guys danced! Security was dancing!
Christian: He's one of the best guitarists, he’s got such unique style, it’s inspiring for us as well, at least this “Terria” stuff.
Cornelius: And the Ocean Machine album!
Christian: Yeah, he's great. And he's one of the most perfect singers I've ever heard, there is not a single note that he’s missing, and he's really nice!

Do you know him personally?

Christian: Yeah.

Because I've heard that he's a bit genius and a bit scary guy...

Christian: It depends. I also worked for a webzine, and I did an interview with him, but I interviewed not Devin but Ziltoid, the puppet. Devin’s really, really nice. A calm person, but a nice person.

What about your next record? Do you have any plans?

Daniel: We're working on it.

Because two years have passed since “The Giant” …

Daniel: Yeah, we always have this few-year-long pause. It's not a plan, it just happens.

What stage of the process are you at these days? Are you doing some demos?

Christian: Yes, tons of them, we record everything we play at rehearsals. I think at the moment we can say that we have four songs. One or two more are to come, depends on their length. One of these is actually the fastest song we've ever done. I mean, it's not fast but it's faster. And we also have the slowest one, the song that is the most difficult one to hear of all the songs we have written, it's about 12.5 minutes. Now we get into the details and you should see that we absolutely like writing at the moment. It flows, it comes out of us, everything is good as it is. Next spring we're gonna record, I think.

Will it be out in 2016?

Christian: 2015.

That's great! Do you have any plans of visiting Russia, maybe supporting this forthcoming album?

Christian: Why not? If we are invited, we will gladly be there!

Can you tell me a few words about the doom metal scene here in Germany in general, because I don't know that many bands from here.

Christian: It's quite big. Do you know a festival called Doom Shall Rise?

No.

Christian: It was one of the first and biggest doom festivals in the world back in 2006 or something. They quit nowadays, they just said, “Yeah, doom has risen”. Nowadays there are so many doom bands on the way in Germany, and pretty many good stuff as well.
Cornelius: Especially in Eastern Germany, the city of Leipzig is the Mecca for doom, I guess. Concerts, concerts, concerts every weekend, a very, very strong growing scene.
Christian: I mean, doom is still underground, I think it will never grow as big as black metal or death metal but you can play in front of 200-300 people which is pretty much for my taste. And I like it.

The stoner stuff is also usually connected to doom, and stoner is going popular now, so may be doom will follow...

Christian: Stoner has way more potential because it's easier to listen to, it's more rocky stuff. Of course it's connected because it's all this heavy and hippie stuff, you know what I mean.
Cornelius: Too low, not too fast. There are so many pearls in the underground. I know that because in Eastern Germany there are so many concerts and I attend lots of them and I'm very often blown away by the quality of the bands I've never heard before. And thank you to the doom and stoner scene for all the peaceful people, not so many assholes around.

Yeah! It’s much quieter than the metal scene, much more friendly.

Christian: Much happier, not as evil!

Maybe it’s because of the weed stuff (laughs)

Christian: Yes, it is! And not as evil, nobody goes "I am the king", everybody's equal, and it's more friendly, you know. If you play a doom show there's almost never anything like, "Oh, we sell more albums", or "We are a bigger band" and stuff like that, we don't like it. It's more like, "Hey, do you wanna beer?!"

Have you encountered such bad attitude here at this festival?

Christian: No, at festivals, at least here, it's all big, you can choose where to go and you normally don't meet shitty people. But there are smaller festivals where there are actually some assholes and you can't just go away, you have to cope with it somehow. But normally we just don't care....
Cornelius: Yes, we have ourselves, we don't care! If you're an asshole - fuck you, I don't care. I don't have to take part in your asshole mess. I'm just staying anywhere else from where you are. It’s very easy.

A great attitude towards life, I think. Can you now say a few final words for our webzine, for your Russian fans...

Christian: Yeah, we hope to go back to Russia one time. Moscow was great, I'd like to go to St. Petersburg actually. But I don't actually know are the any other places to play.

Yeah, we have a very big country, as you know. But the main problem is that there are too many kilometers between the cities. Travelling, logistics... So if you find the promoters, then you can do some cities in Siberia, they are very friendly, I know.

Christian: Siberia is far, far away!

I know a few guys who came to this festival from Siberia...

Christian: Really?

Really, yeah, so you can do the same! Thank you for the interview!

Christian: Thank you!

Ahab on the Internet: http://www.ahab-doom.de

Special thanks to Mona Miluski (Napalm Records) for arranging this interview

Pavel Vlasov
August 16, 2014
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