Anaal Nathrakh – Passion

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Candlelight Records
Produced by Mick Kenney

A question I’ve never been asked is “What is the least accessible band you like?” The answer, should the question arise, is undoubtedly Anaal Nathrakh. For over a decade, Birmingham natives Irrumator (Mick Kenney) and V.I.T.R.I.O.L. (Dave Hunt) have been pummeling eardrums with a collection of at times wildly different yet always instantly recognizable full-lengths and EPs that make Morbid Angel sound like Winger. Fusing elements of black metal, grindcore, industrial, and honestly, anything else they feel like, the duo’s aural assault has created such jarring masterpieces as debut LP The Codex Necro and 2009′s In The Constellation of The Black Widow. Passion is their latest album, and certainly one of their finest.

While In The Constellation of The Black Widow was arguable Anaal Nathrakh at their most accessible – whatever that really means with a band this extreme – Passion brings back a lot of the elements that made their early work so gripping. That isn’t to say the things that made Constellation… relatively more palatable are gone; the soaring clean vocal hooks that made “And so the deaths of hopeless thousands were of no concern” the unlikely singalong bit of the summer two years ago return on Paragon Pariah and Le Diabolique Est L’Ami Du Simple, and the production is crisp and rich.

On the other hand, the distinct “Holy fuck!” that opens album highlight Drug-Fucking Abomination could be the band’s new “Die on your knees!” (the great introductory line to fan favorite and live staple Submission Is For The Weak), and Who Thinks of The Executioner has those same great subtle industrial elements that drove tracks like The Supreme Necrotic Audnance.

Of course, it wouldn’t be an Anaal Nathrakh album if there weren’t some totally new things thrown into the mix. Tod Huetet Uebel is an early candidate for Most Terrifying Song of 2011 with its ungodly guest vocals from ex-Bethlehem mainman Rainer Landfermann, and Locus of Damnation is a short, sharp shock the likes of which we’ve never quite heard from these Brits. Passion itself is fairly short and sharp, but it’s far from unsatisfying. In fact, it may be the most complete glimpse into the world of Anaal Nathrakh yet.

“ a lot of the elements that made their early work so gripping ”

Tracklist: Volenti Non Fit Iniuria / Drug-Fucking Abomination / Post Traumatic Stress Euphoria / Le Diabolique Est L’ami Du Simple / Locus Of Damnation / Tod Huetet Uebel / Paragon Pariah / Who Thinks of The Executioner / Ashes Screaming Silence / Portrait Of The Artist

Written by Brad Sanders
More: 2011, Albums, Black Metal, Death Metal, Anaal Nathrakh