So Moby Dick took your leg. Let it go, man, let it go!

A Girl A Gun A Ghost - Through The Eyes Of Ahab
2008 - Seige of Amida Records/Ferret Music

This debut release on Ferret Records underling label S.O.A.R. is ambitious, wrought with fist pumping break downs and moments of sheer brutality that would make any metal head grin. These moments aren’t uncommon in this album, but you do have to wade through some moments of all-too-familiar dirty southern metal.
The title, Through The Eyes Of Ahab, completely projects the duality of this album, even though any blatant association to Moby Dick is in small amount (or perhaps I wasn’t listening hard enough). It’s constantly teetering on the axis of pure inspired genius, but at times falls back into familiarity, and under-developed madness. Much like the hell-bent-for-revenge captain of the Pequad in Melville’s classic, at times you’re in awe of the grandeur, the power and the madness. From the very first vocal bellow and brutal break down with intoxicatingly deep guttural vocals of “Red Curtains!” in “Mako,” you want nothing more than to follow this maddened captain on his suicide mission. After a few days at sea however, you start to question the familiarity.
The lyrics parallel the music in it’s teetering between originality and recycled. In “Lizard In The Lights,” we’re greeted with the scream of “All hail the beauty queen!” over the top of a typical hardcore riff. Nothing new here. Fast forward two minutes and it shifts to an unexpected direction. The beat drops in half and a sweet sounding guitar line floats over the top of “I am chaos, I am revolution, I am murder, I am resolution. I am the devil’s face and hands. I swear I’m not a killer, just a lonely man.” Is this where Ahab enters the story? Although the topic may not be all too original, the way it’s presented stands out. The same thing happens in “Beware The Tales Of Scorpions.” The first two minutes are nothing special, but the bridge drops and you put your fist in the air, and you’re with them until the end of the song. There’s plenty of stand out points like this surrounding or sandwiched by points of the not-quite-there. In “Bear Witness,” we’re treated to an awesomely groovy riff up front but it drops into a punk-hardcore chorus that seems slightly out of place, only to come back to the a rendition of the first riff and redeem itself. The band even goes instrumental, and does it quite well, with “The Ivory Tusk.” The moments where the genius tips the scale in it’s favor makes wading through muddy water well worth it.
There’s a few spots where the genius seems almost completely absent. In “Spider Inside Her,” the song ends with the excruciatingly overdone “She will burn!” It feels like they’re trying to sound tough for toughness sake, because that’s what hardcore and metal bands do. It’s times like these I find myself shouting back, “Unless you can produce the corpse, I don’t want to hear it.” The opening of “Pangolin Dreams” is obnoxious, especially with it’s constant repetition, and the song never really recovers.
There’s also a few songs where the genius surges through it like a freight train, and you’re standing on the tracks. “A Lion In Your Lap, A Lover In Your Arms,” is a perfect example of what this band is capable of and should be aspiring to. The delightfully groovy (and cleverly named) “Shake, Rattle(snake), and Roll!” is an energetic testament to revenge, or some other form of blood-spilling. "Peregrine," is just brutal, and never lets up.
Even with the few moments of run-of-the-mill metal, these fourteen tracks are one hell of a ride. This band’s ambition trumps all, and it’s easy to focus on their very strong points. I look forward to a sophomore release, as I expect the following things to happen between now and then: matured writing of lyrics, streamlined and more cohesive song craft, and a little more of the deep guttural vocal brutality (“Red Curtains!”) not at all utilized enough in this album.


Overall Rating: 4/5 stars. I really like this album, despite any faults.
Stand out tracks: “Mako,” “A Lion In Your Lap, A Lover In Your Arms,” "Pregrine," “Street Rat’s Eyes”
Album Art: 5/5. This is probably one of my favorite covers in a while, and true to form of a ferret release.
Recommended for fans of: Ferret Records, Every Time I Die, Maylene and The Sons of Disaster, sneaking Pabst Blue Ribbon into crowded theaters.