Artist: Anaal Nathrakh
Title: In the Constellation of the Black Widow
Type: Album
Label: Candlelight Records
I looked at my notes which I wrote after listening to this album and noticed that I’d written self-reminders like “chaos”, “death”, “violence” and at one point “more violence”. A good album then, and one which had clearly made an impact on me. I knew about Anaal Nathrakh already, as they’ve been around for a few years. For some reason I’d never got into them, yet their deranged, Armagaddon-orientated brand of Black Metal should have been right up my street. Maybe I didn’t listen closely enough. In my mind I had them down in the same bracket as Axis of Perdition and other industrial merchants of the time. What I was now hearing with “In the Constellation of the Black Widow” was a familiar exercise in extremity, a deliberate and constant nightmare. I realised what I’d been missing.
The opener is the title track. It all starts with ghastly distorted sounds in the swamp lands. Blastbeats and violent guitar work accompany the horror and threaten us. We hear terrible screams. It’s as if we’re in the middle of a war, but in those blackened swamps with the mist rising. The intensity and sound remind me in part of Behemoth. There’s something anthemic about it. “I am the Wrath of Gods and the Desolation of the Earth Music” takes the violent theme further. The formula’s the same. The horror proceeds at breakneck speed. The guitar riffs have an air of Marduk about them, but they never settle so we remain uncomfortable. It’s disturbing. The screams are clearly of someone being burned alive. “More of Fire and Blood” develops further the aura of chaos which prevails. In amongst it there is recognisable musical form but nothing to give us any comfort, you understand. There is a haranguing and uplifting chorus on this and other tracks but the overriding impression is less of majesty and more of being punched in the face and engulfed in darkness. “The Unbearable Filth of the Soul” adds punishment to the existing nasty equation. There is a conventional death riff. The surrounding sound is anything but conventional. And so it goes on with meandering guitars, creepy vocals, particularly on “The Lucifer Effect”. “Oil upon the Sores of Lepers” features a fast, almost melodic rhythm but the prevalent ambiance is that of dark chaos, captured on the final track “Blood Eagles Carved on the Backs of Innocents”.
For all its intensity, I didn’t detect a great deal of variation on this album. It’s hard to develop from total extremity. It is possible, and personally, I think Impiety and Marduk do it better. I also think that Limbonic Art are better than Anaal Nathrakh at atmospheric horror. But let’s make no mistake, “In the Constellation of the Black Widow” is still a great album, it’s disturbing and without doubt it’s music for these dark, apocalyptic times.
http://www.myspace.com/anaalnathrakh
http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
Andrew Doherty
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