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doom | metal | black metal
celebrating 20 years of AHAB and 10 years of ULTHA
ULTHA ...is a five-piece black metal band from Cologne (Germany) founded in 2014 after the members' old bands, such as PLANKS, GOLDUST, ATKA, IRA, etc. disbanded. Their music can roughly be described as a hybrid of US-Black Metal, (Funeral) Doom, Post Punk and movie score ambience. If you can imagine Leviathan and Emperor teaming up with Neurosis and Oranssi Pazuzu to play songs by Fields Of The Nephilim you might get an idea of Ultha's sound. Lyrically the band doesn't follow any classical metal clichés, instead ruminating about the inner darkness and sadness of our human struggle to find happiness and getting lost in its failures. The bands' songs are mostly between 10-20 minutes long and range from fast blast beats to slower and sludgier eruptions. With their hypnotic and melodic songs, as well as their captivating live shows, they were able to acquire a huge following in a short amount of time. By now Ultha has played more than 100 shows with bigger European and international acts in smaller clubs, on tours with bands such as Sun Worship (DE), Woe (US), Yellow Eyes (US), Unru (DE), as well as many appearances on selected festivals including Roadburn (NL), Brutal Assault (CZ), Party.San (DE), Dudefest (DE), Soulcrusher (DE), Saint Helena (DE), Doom Over Leipzig (DE), In Flammen (DE) and more. They established their own festival entitled Unholy Passion Fest in Cologne, which takes place annually in December. Ultha are one of the most prolific bands in the German music underground with more than a dozen releases to their name in the ten years they’ve been together. Their critically acclaimed second record “Converging Sins” found immensely positive feedback from fans and critics alike, establishing them as a unique band with a very distinct style. This granted them a worldwide deal with CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS. Said label released the band's third album “The Inextricable Wandering” in fall of 2018 which furthered the level of quality brought to the table. In 2022 Ultha returned to their house label of Vendetta Records to finish the trilogy of interconnected records with “All That Has Never Been True”, which ranked in the top slots of a lot of significant music media outlets and lists of fans alike.
FFO: Ash Borer, Emperor, Neurosis, Oranssi Pazuzu, Unru
ULTHA - Links:
AHAB The year 2022 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has forgotten. Not to mention rumours which agitated the maritime population and excited the public mind, even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were particularly excited. Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, naval officers of all countries and the doom communities of all states on the seven continents, were deeply interested in the matter: AHAB announced their fifth album after seven years of mere silence.
Well, sorry... But most of this introduction is actually stolen from the very beginning of Jules Verne’s masterpiece 20000 Leagues Under The Sea. And yes, you guessed right: AHAB took inspiration from one of the greatest works of this grand seigneur of science fiction. No suprise, the german gentlemen of Nautik Doom – by the way a genre they invented – again interprete a maritime novel. But the opening of their new album „The Coral Tombs“ will be a surprise indeed. This time AHAB take their fans on a musical journey with Captain Nemo and Professor Arronax through the depths of the vast oceans and the abysmal nature of mankind – and the new album is probably the one of all AHAB albums that is most likely a real soundtrack: it’s evil, it’s longing, it’s sad, it’s meditative, it’s cavernous, it’s vast, it’s ridiculously epic and as heavy as the colossal squid itself.
As guests AHAB invited Chris Noir of ULTHA and none other than the master of extreme doom himself: Greg Chandler, singer and mastermind of ESOTERIC. Chris Dark (along with Daniel) has the first words on the album while Greg Chandler has the last.
AHAB - Links:
* Ermäßigter Eintritt an der Abendkasse für Schüler*innen, Student*innen, Sozialhilfeempfänger*innen.
* Reduced admission at the box office for students and welfare recipients.
