Captain Ahab has been blowing my mind since 2008, when I was explaining my passionate love of over the top music to my friend Marianne Williams and she popped “After the Rain My Heart Still Dreams” into her CD player. The dramatically titled album is Captain Ahab’s tribute to the power and tragedy of girl-dom. The album combined sounds from many genres of rave music and metal in a style that Captain Ahab’s Jonathan Snipes has been calling “ravesploitation“.

This idea has been a major influence on my own musical project, NVR-NDR. Since then, I have been sweat upon by the might and majesty of Captain Ahab at many a LA experimental electronic show and I have eagerly been anticipating the release of “The End of Irony” for quite some time now.

As I listened to “The End of Irony”, my jaw progressively dropped lower and lower. I don’t even have a lower jaw any more. Every song was better than the last and they are all amazing. The first track, “Acting Hard” is a gabber/metal/choir music opener that brings you into the crazy world of Captain Ahab, followed by the epic ultimate incarnation of the mega-banger “Death to False Techno”, a track that always made the dance floor go ape-shit. And then it happened. The album completely exceeded my astronomically high expectations by whispering:

“I Don’t Have a Dick”

Really. I don’t have a dick. “What kind of lyric is that?” (You might ask, in a shocked and confused tone.) A freakin’ genius one! The song begins with what sounds like a lecture at a crowded dinner table and transitions from spoken word into a autotuned future-disco beat from God. Listen to it and your life will never be the same.

Similar to their previous album, “The End Of Irony” is a concept album, telling the sad and lonely tale of Captain Ahab, “the oldest man alive”, who is more or less God (But still a man. Yeah its confusing, but its a idea that has worked in the past). Since the yarn is not spelled out explicitly, I won’t try to summarize it, but there is a definite story being told. Another favorite tune of mine is “Kill Me”, pounding double kick disco metal which features the ridiculously bad-ass vocal hook “If you want to rule the world/you’re gonna have to kill me” as well as my favorite sound ever, cheesy old skool dance hits. The intense epic-ness will be enjoyed by fans of progressive space opera artist “Ayreon” and the crazy production skills displayed will please audiophiles of all ages .

The album has some strangely touching moments, with tracks like “With My Own Two Hands” & “Was Love” (The latter of which was written for the TV show Caprica on SyFy and appeared in episode 104). Every song is a unique gem. And the various versions released by Deathbomb Arc all feature special extra tracks. Gotta catch ‘em all! And make sure you catch Captain Ahab on tour, the live set will rock your socks off.

“The End of Irony” is recommended listening for fans of eclectic, masterful and experimental music, or anyone who just wants to “get f*cked in the club tonight”, mega-hardcore style.

Pick up a physical copy from Deathbomb Arc in the format of your choice or purchase it in digital form on bandcamp.

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