Of Nautical Tales and Post Funeral Moments

AHAB, Arctic Sea Survivors, Kerbmaldarr

Escape Metalcorner Wien, Austria 20240412

Earplugs, ticket. Basic equipment for visiting a loud heavy Metal show. While Ruhmer and Timay have their release day, Fast Animal and Slow Kids play at Chelsea and Franz Fuexe, The Shaftons and Woke at Arena and Arena Beisl. And at Escape, the fans of beautiful Doom gather for a special line-up. 

Celebrating the 20th anniversary, the venue hosts a long list of highlights: Dethroned, Wildhunt, 1914, Nuclear Vomit, Infest, Hate, Slaughter Messiah and many more. The voice of Dio welcomes at the bar upstairs, before Kerbmaldarr start downstairs like back at the Doom Over Vienna. 

They show their unity with a handshake in the beginning. Then their sound rumbles like High On Fire, as heavy, that the case on stage falls to the floor. Since last year, they have a vocalist who joins in during the set, while they distribute their coasters from the stage. 

After a break with Iron Maiden, the four Arctic Sea Survivors from Graz are up next with their Doom Post Metal. Masked and set in cold blue light, they have power like Dool and rawness like Dronte. Their big riffs have an meditative effect, swaying through the listeners. 

Headliner of tonight’s intermezzo is the German Nautik (Funeral) Doom spearhead AHAB (Napalm Records). They count ‚20 Years Of Doom‘, that brought them e.g. to SBOA or resulted in a feature with Endonomos. A sample brings sounds from the sea, leading to the intro, interrupted by extreme noise. 

There’s probably no more wonderful way to put stories like from Herman Melville and Jules Verne into music. Songs like „Colossus of the Liquid Graves“ from their latest work „The Coral Tombs“ carry the fantasy through the ninety-minutes show. And as it is done, memories will remain of the extraordinary experience to see bands like these three in this intimate club atmosphere.