“The Boats of Glenn Carrig” is inspired by a novel written by William Hope Hodgson telling the story of a shipwreck and some survivors having strange encounters with peculiar creatures. This story matches the German band’s theme perfectly dressing it with their own particular slow melodies.
A characteristic of this album is definitely the cleaner vocals of Daniel Droste; he is still capable of make your spine twitch but in the latest opus, he is more focused on the cleaner parts of his vocal spectrum. The whole album is less ‘funerally slow’ than the previous one – a feature that may deter AHAB’s all-time fans. In my opinion, it is not a negative turnout as it enhances the atmosphere rather than weakening it while at the same time adding majestic elements to the journey in the ocean. Another surprise is the bonus track “The Light in the Weed (Mary Madison) is the first of AHAB to have been sung entirely in clean vocals.
“Like Red Foam (The Storm)” is the most upbeat song ever composed by the German funeral doom quartet. Multifaceted music is what AHAB presents to us one more time; the waters are calm before the huge waves of crushing doom riffs. It can be said that it resembles to a journey in stormy waters with all its tribulations, fear and anticipations.
They expand on the post-rock and progressively approached influences integrated into The Giant, with ambient intervals and a larger variety escaping from their traditional genre. Chris Hector apart from playing the guitar, he is signing to accompany the gloomy moments with cleaner tones but also growling when the atmosphere and the respective riff allow it.
In general, “The Boats of Glen Carrig” is a bright example of development in AHAB‘s musical path. It successes “The Giant” but has improved harmony-wise and in the production aspect. Do not compare this album with their previous works, just go with its flow and let it travel you to unknown places in the deep oceans.
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