Diving into the Depths
Ahab, Dark Nativity
Presented by Escape Entertainment, Escape Metalcorner Wien, Austria 20250726
Yesterday’s review already reported on the cancellation of the 2025 edition of Metal Fields and how, on the spur of the moment, a sort of mini-festival was arranged for this weekend at Escape. Today, it was the turn of the Teutonics Ahab and Austrians Dark Nativity —both devout followers, though each in their own way, of the primal doom riffs first delivered by Black Sabbath back in 1970, including the unmistakable voice of the recently deceased Ozzy Osbourne.
On a personal note, I deeply regretted missing Ahab’s performance last year, which our friend Steäm Machine so aptly reviewed. And I wasn’t going to let that happen again. After all, Ahab stands as one of the giants of Funeral Doom and Doom at large thanks to their masterfully crafted musicalisations of obscure ocean-themed literary tropes, reworked through the lens of what they call Nautik Funeral Doom, but also thanks to very creative and frankly exquisite riff work and a killer, polished stage presence.
The show was set for 20:00, kicking off with Dark Nativity, who returned to Escape for the third time in under a year following their November 2024 appearance at Doom Over Vienna and their May support performance for Magma Rise. By 20:20, Escape’s basement was practically full. In fact, midweek reports indicated over 60% of tickets had sold even given the short notice, and I’ve no doubt they came close to a total sellout. And Dark Nativity, just like last time, ignited the crowd and impulsed the first heavy headbanging with their riffs.
Around 21:30, Ahab’s four sailors were already on stage as a sample of crashing waves and seagulls began to play, immersing the audience in that nautical atmosphere. Gradually, the sample blended into the first chords of “Further South” —the opening track of their third album, The Giant (2012), featuring lyrics based on Edgar Allan Poe. From there, the performance unfolded as nothing but a relentless shift between gutturals and clean vocals, slow guitar solos, and crushing riffs but also warm, clean passages —all this with that maritime touch they’ve so brilliantly expressed not just lyrically but in the very sound of the band. Finally, after insistent shouts from the crowd demanding a Zugabe, the Germans closed their near 90-minute set with “The Divinity of Oceans”, title track from their 2009 album that submerged the crowd at Escape’s basement even further before vanishing into the depths…
We sold our souls to the divinity of oceans,
Bestowed our fortune to the demons of depth
Thus now we are left stranded,
Shipwrecked and collapsed
PS: By the way, it’s been almost two months since I last wrote here. The good thing is that several great events are coming to Vienna for Doom fans, including concerts by the pioneers Funeral next month, Dopelord, Paradise Lost, The Obsessed, Conan, and the 19th edition of Doom Over Vienna. Stay Doom!