"Where do we fit in? "
"Are we relevant? "
Probably neither are questions that overly concern Messrs V. I. T. R. I. O. L. and Irrumator when it comes to recording a new Anaal Nathrakh album. Sharp of mind and relentlessly their own people they always seem to be musicians who follow their feeling without too much introspection. For the howl and fury of their sound that is of course a very good thing. After all you want an Anaal Nathrakh album to tear the flesh from your face just by its sound alone.
I have a problem though: If I put it into the context of owning all their previous albums the last three have ended up making me ask "Why should I add this?”. You see regardless of their back catalogues quality I can't stop the quiet, insistent tap-tap-tap of 'formula' at the back of my mind. These are hugely talented individuals here and nothing they have done has short changed me in quality. This band has never been music on auto pilot; there is too much emotion on display for that. Just... something needed to shift. When you have your sound nailed down so hard that it is instantly recognisable the art is either putting a slight twist on what has gone before or adding a subtle shift in atmosphere. Something to make you want another dose.
Passion. Do I need passion?
Things kick off with 'Violenti Non Fit Iniuria' and after the slow pressure introduction it's clear that V. I. T. R. I. O. L. is in pehnomenal blood vessel bursting form and its the moment you realise how much you can miss these guys. The production is clear, very much in the mould of their last album 'In The Constellation Of The Black Widow' and the sharp riffs rip through the thick bass. When the distinctive rising clean vocals appear its almost like a migraine trying to push out through your face; more controlled and focussed but no less violent than the spittle flinging fury that preceded it.
Next up, 'Drug-Fucking Abomination' is a bit of an epic by this albums standards; seven plus minutes of pummelling, grinding, screams and classic Norwegian-style leads that thrashes about in its own purgatory. It's somewhere around this time that I stand on a knife edge, not sure which way the album is going to take me.
Then 'Post-traumatic Stress Euphoria' crashes the asylum. It is what Anaal Nathrakh are so bloody good at. It's a short, vicious blackgrind whirlwind with the insane, frothing vocals the furious heart chained inside. You see for all that they are a two piece in the studio, one of the best aspects of their Black Metal/Grind sound is that it never sounds over-programmed. There is always a certain over-riding organic feel which is no small achievement, something insane and fucked up barely contained by the song structure.
Hunt and Kenney are the type of almost unfathomably talented people that kind of make your heart swell as a fan and songs like 'Tod Huetet Eubel' are the kind of song that makes it happen. It is a fast, dark piece of nastiness that hurtles into some Hell oblivious of the screams for help. A magnificent, twisted song that drags me down a side alley and proceeds to break every bone it can find.
It's a good point to mention the variety in the vocals on display here because even by his standards, V.I.T.R.I.O.L. is in staggering form. There are not just those face bursting screams, here we have growls and screeches, straight-jacketed mutterings and Satanic Swine eating fuck-knows-what-but-they-look-like toes. It is quite an awesome display of personalities.
Any issues at all, then? Well still the minor niggle I have is that sometimes the clean vocals can sound rather samey, always coming in on the more melodic tide and always like the rising voice of a preacher saying "I told you". A little too familiar. Its the only real weakness here, that 'formula' fear again but there again on 'Paragon Pariah' they do change them just enough to keep things interesting. And on 'Who Thinks Of The Executioner' and 'Ashes Screaming Silence' they really mix it up. Another little nod to 'When Fire Rains.... ' in feel, for me.
So I guess this is the album that proved me wrong. I'm not saying it's some radical change or some earth shattering revelation but it has shaken off enough of the stasis and the whiff of formula that I thought had gripped the band and has got me totally enthused again. It bites and grinds that bit harder for me than anything since 'When Fire Rains Down From The Sky, Mankind Will Reap As It Has Sown' but retains the those sections of control that Eschaton showed so well.
So: If you have never listened to an Anaal Nathrakh album before, it gets a full throated "Yes! Buy!" You won't have heard such a great balance of totally unhinged fury of blackgrind and malevolently controlled black metal melody in one band before.
If you do know the band and had thought like me, then give Passion a chance: Listen and it might, just might, drag you back into the fold and give you a damed good kicking, too, for doubting them.
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