With the sun raising the mercury to insomnia-inducing levels, today's weather in London may not seem like the ideal background for an evening of funeral doom metal. German marine metallers Ahab are back in the capital for the first since 2012 accompanied by the native Esoteric, always thoroughly enjoyed in London.
Birmingham's Esoteric are no strangers to these shores and their reputation as a consistently impressive doom metal outfit is mirrored by the number of those watching them. Formed in 1992 and with six albums to their name, it is surprising that Esoteric are not more well-known in the metal scene given their slow yet complex compositions. Pairing the unhurried tempos of funeral doom with death doom, the quintet's sombre metal fills the venue, effortlessly drawing admiration and subtle headbanging from those in the congregation inclined to do so. Songs surpass the ten minute mark yet fail to compromise on their intrigue, engineering this with crystalline guitar leads, encapsulated progressive, post-rock and gothic flourishes corroborating to develop a sophisticated atmosphere, all underscored by Greg Chandler's bestial growls admittedly less horrifying here than on record due to the layering restriction but still resolutely powerful and coated in reverb. Perhaps even more impressively, in spite of a keyboard absent in this live set up, the band's sound is poignantly rich and saturated with an impressive depth without any nuance of a missing instrument.
The deceptively intricate 'Cipher', the lonesome 'Abandonment' and the meandering 'Silence' show how resilient Esoteric's latter portion of their discography is, possibly the fruit of resisting the convention to release an album once every two years. Despite the tempo, the members put on an evocative stage presence, clearly attached to their music rather than looking idle. An hour seems to sprint by as the set concludes to a wall of ovation from an extremely positive crowd as the four men depart the stage. Esoteric deserve nothing less.
ahab have quite a show to follow as they take the stage for the first time in the capital in three years, having undoubtedly recruited more fans at last year's Damnation Festival. Diving into the comparatively raw 'The Divinity of Oceans', the nautical-themed Germans commence a barrage of sea-sickeningly dizzying guitar leads, battering rhythm guitar and churning double bass drumming alongside brutal vocalisations. This is counterbalanced by a post-rock break with clean vocals and a beautiful slow guitar solo, never losing its clasp on the listener's attention.
With guitar melodies ebbing and flowing and rhythms plunging the listener to murky depths, Ahab's music makes up in heaviness what it does not possess in speed. The likes of 'Deliverance', 'Further South' and 'Old Thunder' are sumptuous and unrushed songs that exercise their prowess commendably in the live environment. Introduced as a speed metal song is 'Like Read Foam (The Storm)' from the Germans' forthcoming album 'The Boats of Glen Carrig', careful not to stray away from the standard Ahab equation and certainly appreciated by the fans present. Like Esoteric, the band maintains a good stage presence but portions of the audience presumably find the music not the best partner live as the crowd does appear to thin out towards the end of the set. Nonetheless, closing number 'The Hunt' from the debut 'The Call of the Wretched Sea' yanks out more enthusiasm from those left behind and concludes the set on a high note.
Funeral doom is such a miniscule metal genre so for two giants of the genre to be on the same bill on a Summer's night in London is nothing short of a treat. The turnout for this kind of show was supportive and as the expansion of interest in doom metal continues and attentions widen, this fringe subgenre of the doom sound will continue to see positive growth. The rate of funeral doom bands appearing in the metal underground's consciousness in the last ten years has been dramatic so there is definitely appetite for this uniquely rewarding style of doom metal.
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.