Recently AHAB did some selected shows in Germany. How did you feel to be back on stage so far?
I was really looking forward to this mini tour but I was concerned as well the closer our tour start came. Covid-19 numbers were rising again and the risk that one of us catches the virus and the tour had to be cancelled was always present. Fortunately all members of both bands stayed healthy before the tour and just some got ill afterwards. It was great to be back on the road for a few shows in a row, with the nice people of Stagwounder supporting us. There were more people showing up than we expected and our show in Berlin was even sold out, something I don’t take for granted especially during these times. Playing a show on the MS Stubniz, which is an old fish trawler in Hamburg was awesome as well. I was also very curious about the reaction of the people on the two new songs we had on our set list and the feedback we got during these days was really good.

It has been a long time since the previous album ‘The Boats Of The Glen Carrig’ in 2015 came out. What did happen since this release?
It was definitely not our plan to have such a long gap this time. Until the release of our fourth album we somehow managed to release an album in a 3 year cycle, which wasn’t planned either. Almost everyone in the band got kids during the last years, beginning with the birth of my daughter in 2016, so all of us had their hiatus from AHAB to concentrate on the new family situation. We never got any pressure from our label. They asked if we’re going to book a studio from time to time, but never pressed us to release anything. The interest in AHAB didn’t decrease during these years, we got more offers to play live than we could accept… and with two good friends helping us out as session musicians if necessary, it was possible for us to concentrate on playing live even when some of us weren’t available. When all four of us met it was mainly for rehearsing the live set. We also jammed together from time to time, but that initial spark that enlightens the path to a new record just didn’t happen. We recorded several demo versions of ideas we had, but the musical central theme was missing somehow. In retrospective I’d say that we just weren’t ready back then, that creative workflow didn’t happen. After we’ve passed that first step we’re usually quite fast with composing, but that’s something you can’t force, so we just had to wait till the right time has come.

When did you start writing the new material for ‘The Coral Tombs’ and how do you reflect on that experience since it was during covid-19 times?
Well we were forced by the pandemic to change the way we’ve used work this time. I constantly record riffs or fragments of a song at home when I play guitar. Sometimes it happens that I compose a whole song, and the other guys just add their instrument to the structures. The title track of our new album for example was composed that way….but usually we discuss ideas at our rehearsal space. We weren’t able to meet as a four piece during the pandemic, so Stephan and I met at my place to arrange some ideas I recorded as well as to compose together. This way of working was really effective. I guess we only met twice but already got the rough structures fort the first three songs done afterwards. In retrospect I would say that these sessions were the missing spark that enlightened the path to our new record.

You always select a novel. This time Jules Verne’s ’20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ was your source of inspiration for the concept. How did you come to this topic (because I think you considered it for a long time)?
We actually discussed using ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ as a template some years ago, yes….but in retrospective I’d say that it just wasn’t the right time back then. We all knew the story, but none of us had read the book at that time, so we didn’t realize that there actually is enough potential in the story being the template for our music. The consistency of an AHAB record consists of our trademarks as well as personal influences, shaped by the story we are composing. The story has to be there before we start composing new songs, it’s not like we had new music and just searched for a fitting story….but the novel we’re working with needs to be a fitting template for heavy riffs and grunts alike. After we also read the book, we experienced the whole potential of the story. By delivering a deeper look on captain Nemo and his aversion to the world above, the story got a second level of interpretation and seemed to fit very well as a basis for an AHAB record.

The first song ‘Prof Arronax’ Descent Into The Vast Oceans’ happens to have surprising elements right away with blastbeats and screams of Ulthra’s Chris Noir. What can you tell about his cooperation and about the development of that long opening track?
The opening riff of “Prof Arronax…” developed during a jam-session quite spontaneous. I guess we were stuck at a song we were working on and I just started shredding that riff during a break. Our drummer is always ready to join stuff I play in between for fun and added the blast beats and the longer we played, the more we started enjoying this little shred…..until someone came up with the idea  that this would be a great and unexpected opening for the new record. The first lines of the lyrics Chris wrote for that song were just perfect for a duet. We were looking for a contrast to my voice, so it was just obvious that we wanted to have a black metal vocalist. So one evening Chris and I sat in my kitchen and listened to different black metal bands and finally I showed him an ULTHA song. We both agreed that Chris Noir would be a great option. We didn’t know him personally so we just wrote a mail to ask if he’d be interested in participating on our new record, and luckily he agreed.

Another guest appears in the last track ‘Maelstrom’ and Greg from Esoteric is an icon in (funeral) doom metal. How did you get in contact with him and can you tell about this cooperation?
Greg Chandler is a friend of ours since we’ve been on tour together in 2012. Chris and I were fans of his band ESOTERIC even before AHAB existed. Greg’s vocal part is closing “The Coral Tombs”, in a part dealing with drowning in a maelstrom. His vocals combined with all this sick effects he’s using on that part, that’s a perfect match. I remember when I first heard the final version of that song in my car on my way to work. I had goose-bumps all over and a big smile on my face at the same time. His band was a huge inspiration for us and one of the reasons we decided to found a doom metal band. It’s a real honour to have this guy on our record!

Funeral doom metal is quite a small niche in our extreme metal world, but for AHAB there is a wider spectrum. Although it sounds devastating at some points, the melodic parts are of peaceful beauty. I guess you have quite of different influences and bands you like. Can you tell anything about that?
Well it’s not easy to define what exactly inspired me musically to my contribution for AHAB, because I think that inspiration often happens unconsciously. I mainly listen to guitar related music, but I’m not limited on a specific genre. As a teenager I was obsessed of listening, buying and discovering new music. I’d say that this period of my life, when I was listening to 90s death metal and discovered Anathema’s ‘Pentecost 3’,which still is one of my all time favourite doom records, had the heaviest impact on my musical journey for sure. I was also blown away when Opeth released “Blackwater Park” back then. I don’t know how often I listened and played to that record, the guitar work is just perfect on this album. It definitely influenced my playing and composing in a way. Nowadays I also enjoy listening to prog rock, stuff from the seventies as well as Steven Wilson for example. His solo records and his releases with Porcupine Tree are a must have in my collection. He’s just an amazing composer and his style of writing music definitely had an impact on me as well.