Anaal Nathrakh

Anaal Nathrakh - Desideratum
Metal Blade, 2014
Genre: Black Metal

1. Acheronta Movebimus
2. Unleash
3. Monstrum in Animo
4. The One Thing Needful
5. A Firm Foundation of Unyielding Despair
6. Desideratum
7. Idol
8. Sub Specie Aeterni (Of Maggots and Humanity)
9. The Joystream
10. Rage and Red
11. Ita Mori




After the mighty "Vanitas" I was pretty excited to see Anaal Nathrakh's return with a new album. I was glad to see the two working together despite being separated by an ocean now. There seem to have been a lot of changes over the years, because Anaal Nathrakh now stands signed by Metal Blade, but I figured their sound wouldn't be affected too much by this. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of great things to say about this album. I think it stands as one of the more disappointing in their career, but it actually could have been fairly decent, which is why I think this is so much more disappointing. It didn't have to be a poor album at all, but as a whole, it rather stands that way.

Long running bands like Anaal Nathrakh aren't always going to release music I like and I absolutely understand their interest in experimenting after so many years. I also understand their choices of experimentation fully, the problem here is that they didn't really work for a few reasons. I'm going to try and explain this to the best of my ability.

Anaal Nathrakh have ventured into the territory of adding far more electronics into their music. This doesn't always turn me off immediately, in fact there are moments where Anaal Nathrakh remind me of the early 2000's when a lot of Black Metal bands started experimenting with this. A lot of the bands back then had more of an industrial feel added in, but this being 2014, Anaal Nathrakh incorporated elements of the ever popular Dub Step style. Now, I absolutely do not like that genre, it just sounds stupid to me, but with an Anaal Nathrakh backdrop it just might work. I totally understand why Mick used the style. It has this chaotic distorted quality that should work within the framework of Anaal Nathrakh's inherent chaos. Maybe this would have worked perfectly on an album as frantic and chaotic as the "The Codex Necro", but that is not the album Mick composed on the guitars. This is the most tame guitar composition I've ever heard from Anaal Nathrakh. It's moody and brooding and often times very heartfelt when we hit those melodic sections. Listen to the melodic section in "The One Thing Needful". Perhaps Anaal Nathrakh would have been better served by borrowing the electronic stylings of 20.SV, to keep that sort of distorted texturing, but in a far more controlled atmosphere. Some of the darker passages of a group like Hocico would have also meshed quite nicely with this slower sound. The songs that don't have any or very little electronics seem to work fairly well. But they don't truly hold up in the writing all the time, sometimes falling into Metalcore elements that are just unnecessary.

Another problem with the recording is where it seems Mick has dropped the guitar tuning even lower. It's running into those realms where it starts to become incomprehensible on the low notes. I don't know if this is in response to all the rage of 8-string guitars from the Djent scene, but it doesn't work with this style. It works with Djent because the low notes on the guitar are usually just single hits, but with Anaal Nathrakh, and Black Metal in general, there is a lot of tremolo picking. Once you get into a certain tuning range the low notes just sound all muddled together and stop standing out at all.

In the end I feel like "Desideratum" has conflicting goals with itself. I think if the band had focused on making a brooding and dark album that sounded huge, rather than trying to insert the elements of chaos haphazardly it may have turned out to be a more successful album. I think if they had focused on that kind of riffing instead of exploring other areas, this album could have pulled itself together as a real cohesive force. Instead this seems to lack direction and some of the compositions seem to lack the stand-out riffing of the prior releases. As the band sorts out direction, if they want to take a shift in their sound, we'll see if they can filter out what works and make a better album next time. I just hope they tend more towards the Black Metal than the core/dubstep found on this release, because that stuff just sounds idiotic in this atmosphere.

Anaal Nathrakh - Vanitas
Candlelight Records, 2012
Genre: Black Metal

1. The Blood-Dimmed Tide
2. Forging Towards the Sunset
3. To Spite the Face
4. Todos Somos Humanos
5. In Coelo Quies, Tout Finis ici Bas
6. You Can't Save Me So Stop Fucking Trying
7. Make Glorious the Embrace of Saturn
8. Feeding the Beast
9. Of Fire, and Fucking Pigs
10. A Metaphor for the Dead





Here we have a new Anaal Nathrakh on the heels of "Passion". The last time this happened it didn't go so well for Anaal Nathrakh and they wound up releasing one of their worst albums in their catalog. I'm happy to report that "Vanitas" is a ridiculously strong album in their catalog. I did have some glimmer of hope for it, since there were some really strong elements on "Passion" and "Vanitas" really takes everything I didn't like on "Passion" and makes it go away.

With "Vanitas" I think Irrumator finally figured out how to make the elements of "In the Constellation of the Black Widow" really work the strong parts of "Passion". This made "Vanitas" as strong as "Eschaton" without making it feel like Anaal Nathrakh were re-treading that album. I think this is the direction the band was really trying to find over the past few years as they desperately tried not to redo things from the first three full-lengths, while staying true to their original foundation in sound. They seem to have given up on trying to make the melodic thing work, and instead have gone more for a haunting Black Metal element. Perhaps this forced the vocal line in a particular direction, but there are very few clean elements on this album. I won't complain, because this really works in  Anaal Nathrakh's favor in the grand scheme of things. The end result is an album that feels huge and dark at the same time.

"Vanitas" is truly a special release. It's been a long time since I've heard an Anaal Nathrakh album that was flawless and I enjoyed every single track. I'm really glad they managed to put this together and had it in them to really write something this consistently solid. Who knows what is in store for us next... but after having analyzed their whole catalog I'm sort of prepared for some decent albums that won't blow me away until another "Eschaton" or "Vanitas" rears its ugly head. However, Anaal Nathrakh make it well worth our wait for these immense gems that are just overflowing with solid material. "Vanitas" brings me back to the days of what made this band so alluring to get into.

Anaal Nathrakh - Passion
Candlelight Records, 2011
Genre: Black Metal

1. Violenti Non Fit Iniuria
2. Drug-Fucking Abomination
3. Post Traumatic Stress Euphoria
4. Le Diabolique est l'Ami du Simplement Mal
5. Locus of Damnation
6. Tod Huetet Uebel
7. Paragon Pariah
8. Who Thinks of the Executioner?
9. Ashes Screaming Silence
10. Portrait of the Artist






Based on the last two albums, I wasn't all that excited with the release of "Passion". I didn't have the highest expectations, I wasn't expecting to be blown away, but I did expect something decent at least. I usually feel safe buying Anaal Nathrakh albums in that regard. As soon as I put this in the player, I felt like something was different. The past couple years seem to have done well for Anaal Nathrakh in the writing department.

Starting with "Violenti Non Fit Iniuria" this really had a different feel compared to the prior releases. A lot of the material feels like Black Metal has been heavily infused into the major aspects of their sound. The very opening of the song is very reminiscent of Behemoth's "Evangelion". "Drug-Fucking Abomination" actually have moments that heavily remind me of Irrumator's other project Frost,which I also thought was pretty well done. It's interesting to see that this song also is over seven minutes in length and probably one of the best on the album, because it is just overflowing with atmosphere. They seem to experiment a bit with track length on parts and have one song that is only a minute long and another that is under two minutes, giving these tracks a sort of Napalm Death styled Grind approach. However, it's really not much of real Grind, because the songs structuring is still heavily Black Metal or Death Metal in nature. There were moments that didn't really work with the writing, but this has some of the strongest material since the days of "Eschaton." When looking at this album deeper, though, I think they should have stuck with an EP. Stretching this to a full-length really weakened it. The only track I, outright, didn't like was "Tod Huetet Uebel", which features Landfemann, the legendary vocalist featured on Bethlehem's "Dictius te Necare". Unfortunately, I don't think the years have been so kind to his voice and I'm not sure his approach really works with Anaal Nathrakh all that much, to be honest. After this point I feel "Passion" weakens a bit, but I loved the strong start and really thought this added a lot to the Anaal Nathrakh discography at times.

Luckily on "Passion" the good moments really outweigh the bad. I would definitely like to hear more along the lines of "Violenti Non Fit Iniuria", "Drug-Fucking Abomination" and "Le Diabolique est l'Ami du Simplement Mal", which are the finest songs on the album to me. In the grand scheme of things I think this is one of their strongest efforts in a while and absolutely worth getting your hands on.

Anaal Nathrakh - In the Constellation of the Black Widow
Candlelight Records, 2009
Genre: Black/Death Metal

1. In the Constellation of the Black Widow
2. I am the Wrath of Gods and the Desolation of the Earth
3. More of Fire than Blood
4. The Unbearable Filth of the Soul
5. Terror in the Mind of God
6. So Be It
7. The Lucifer Effect
8. Oil Upon the Sores of Lepers
9. Satanarchrist
10. Blood Eagles Carved on the Backs of Innocents



I remember when I first got this, I wasn't paying as close to the music scene as I normally did. In fact I had outright stopped doing any kind of review process, but when I was flipping through albums in my local music store, I came across a new Anaal Nathrakh. I thought it was quite a short time between albums.... but it was me who had lost track of time and I see that there has been a couple years between releases. This seems to be the best approach for Anaal Nathrakh, I feel that if they don't spend enough time letting ideas distill a poor quality album results.

"In the Constellation of the Black Widow" doesn't really bring us anything new from the camp of Anaal Nathrakh, but it does wrest control from the rather lackluster display found on "Hell is Empty and All the Devils are Here". This also marks a return to Candlelight for the band, which is sort of interesting to have albums released in this disjointed way from labels. Either way this is a step in the right direction from the previous album. I was a little worried at first, because the first song had those melodic moments that show up all over and I wasn't sure if we were in for more of the same. They do show up here more often on this album, but the approach is used a bit more sparingly and the sections with this have more haunting guitar lines than melodic a lot of times. Just listen to "More of Fire than Blood". They also upped their levels of chaos and at times there are reminiscent moments of "The Codex Necro", but these are few and far between. "The Unbearable Filth of the Soul" seems to be heavily influenced by Fear Factory with the way the main riff is laid out, and seems like an attempt to have this album's version of "Regression to the Mean". Fear Factory structuring shows up again with the opening riff of "Oil Upon the Sores of Lepers". I say Fear Factory over the likes of Meshuggah, because it's not as djent sounding and focuses more on the triplet feel.

Overall, this is a decent album. It's a much stronger effort than "Hell is Empty and All the Devils are Here". While there is some return to the chaotic style, this album doesn't feel as edge of your seat intense as their earlier works. I think, at times, Anaal Nathrakh struggles to really find what to do next and is defaulting with experimenting with textures for good or ill. I feel like Irrumator is trying to find the best way to execute the use of melody amidst all the chaos and he hasn't quite nailed that careful balance, so the albums come off sounding far more subdued. There are certainly still some strong moments, but in the end I'm still going to pull out "Eschaton" before putting this on when I'm in the mood for Anaal Nathrakh. "In the Constellation of the Black Widow", while not the best they've ever done, is still a very fair album from the project, which is still very strong compared to many other bands out there. There's really nothing like this band out there and I'll take a fair effort from Anaal Nathrakh way before I start listening to the likes of modern Dimmu Borgir trash.

Anaal Nathrakh - Hell is Empty and All the Devils are Here
Feto Records, 2007
Genre: Black/Death Metal

1. Solifugae
2. Der Hölle Rache Kocht in Meinem Herzen
3. Screaming for the Unborn
4. Virus Bomb
5. The Final Absolution
6. Shatter the Empyrean
7. Lama Sabachthani
8. Until the World Stops Turning
9. Genetic Noose
10. Sanction Extremis (Kill them All)
11. Castigation and Betrayal



Usually when a band releases an album every couple of years with everything being well written they get into a good routine of writing and releasing material. Well, Anaal Nathrakh are sort of breaking that buy releasing an album in the following year after "Eschaton". This tends to send up some red flags as to how rushed the album may have been. In a lot of ways, I really think this album comes off as a bit rushed and on the result for Anaal Nathrakh is actually a less intense and less chaotic album. This album has its moments and certain new aspects work well, but it's not really the same. It's really not a tempering of the material found on the earlier works.

While there are some wonderful riffs on this album, I feel they are few and far between. Instead the music tends to aim for a crunchier and heavier riffing style to create the foundation of the song. The songs will then deviate into a far more melodic sequence where Vitriol tends to sing clean over it. It seems the album is quite formulaic in this respect and I remember feeling a little disappointed in it when I first heard it. Later, I put it on and thought it sounded better, but I was listening to it more in the background and not paying much attention. Apparently that's when I find this album good... when I don't pay attention to it. In analyzing it this time round, I am disappointed in it. It's actually not a great follow-up to "Eschaton". It doesn't have the same level of intoxicating riffing as the prior albums. Songs like "Genetic Noose" show up and give us great atmosphere, but these are few and far between on this album.

Ultimately, Anaal Nathrakh's devotion to melody and formulaic songwriting really marred this album for me. It just doesn't stand out in the discography. I get the impression they opted for heaviness over writing good riffs in many sections of this album. There are great riffs once in a while, but this is very different from the vast collection of great riffs on each of their prior releases. With so much clean singing taking place on this album and the extra melodic guitar lines, we walk away with a release that just doesn't measure up to Anaal Nathrakh's usual levels of intensity and viciousness. The song that works best with the new melodic approach is "Virus Bomb" in my opinion. The only song that comes close to the insanity of prior efforts is the closing track "Castigation and Betrayal" and perhaps this is why people look more favorable on this release. I figure people stop paying attention to a large portion of this album, but it ends on such an intense note, they figure nothing has really changed that much. I bet that's what I thought when I re-listened the second time. In any event, don't expect the same Anaal Nathrakh this time around...

Anaal Nathrakh - Eschaton
Season of Mist, 2006
Genre: Black Metal

1. Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes
2. Between Shit and Piss We are Born
3. Time Wave Zero
4. The Destroying Angel
5. Waiting for the Barbarians
6. The Yellow King
7. When the Lion Devours both Dragon and Child
8. The Necrogeddon
9. Regression to the Mean




After "Domine Non es Dignus" won me back to looking forward to Anaal Nathrakh, I was excited to a see new release imminent on the horizon. Little did I know, at the time, that it would swiftly launch itself into being of my favorite Anaal Nathrakh albums of all time. "Eschaton" really is that good and it truly stands the test of time for me. Further embracing the media's reaction as being one of the most chaotic acts out there "Eschaton" sports album art right out of Chaos Math with Fractal patterns being used all over.

While "Domine Non es Dignus" brought us more experimentation and Death Metal into the Anaal Nathrakh sound "Eschaton" brings us back to a heavier focus of Black Metal. They also really figured out how to manage the level of chaos in their sound so that the songs are both memorable and ridiculously intense at the same time. They do this by really taking care on structuring the fast and slow riffs together. The strange part with Anaal Nathrakh is that the viciousness and intensity is what really sticks out to people and that's what everyone seems to remember hearing. But if you sit down and really analyze "Eschaton" it's really not that fast or intense of an album from a musical stand point. Somehow, Anaal Nathrakh has figured out how to give the impression of utter intensity without actually playing all that intense. It's quite striking, because after "Eschaton" is over its really how you feel about what you just heard. However, there are a lot of atmospheric and haunting parts and the Death Metal riff in "The Destroying Angel" is downright catchy! The clean verse section of "When the Lion Devours both Dragon and Child" is outright melodic, it doesn't even come off as ugly or disgusting. What do we remember though? The intensity, the viciousness, and the vile nature of the album's overall aesthetic. I can't figure out why... and it really isn't all in Vitriol's voice. Certainly his frantic and varied vocal performance helps, but that's not even remotely close to where it all is. Perhaps this is a major reason I love this album... it manages to make something seem intense in a very contradictory fashion to me, it really makes me appreciate what they've developed here. Also, the album closes with "Regression to the Mean", which is an incredibly atmospheric song and a concept from statistics... even though I never found statistically analysis very interesting, the song is amazing though.

This truly is an "Eschaton" for the band. I feel this is where they harnessed their craft in such a measured and well thought out way that it is one of their strongest releases. This really gives off a very catastrophic feel and it truly feels like you just experienced a whirlwind of chaos, this is even the case despite the song closing on the moody and slow "Regression to the Mean". It's a very interesting album and extremely well thought out if you spend time really looking at everything within their system of creation.

Anaal Nathrakh - Domine Non es Dignus
Season of Mist, 2004
Genre: Black/Death Metal

1. I Wish I could Vomit Blood on You... ...People
2. The Oblivion Gene
3. Do Not Speak
4. Procreation of the Wretched
5. To Err is Human, to Dream Futile
6. Revaluation of All Values (Tractatus Alogico Misanthropicus)
7. The Final Destruction of Dignity (Die Letzten Tage der Menschheit)
8. Swallow the World
9. This Cannot be the End
10. Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light



After an EP that I found lack luster, I was beginning to worry that Anaal Nathrakh only had one really great release in them. Sometimes that happens, a band puts out such a devastating debut, they just can't ever seem to overcome that first album. Luckily, Anaal Nathrakh have a lot more to offer than just the one album. Enter "Domine Non es Dignus", which is a very proper follow-up to "The Codex Necro" and actually does make some effort to advance their sound.

Aside from the intro, which I always skip, this is a great album. The intro is just someone throwing up with all kinds of effects put on the recording. It's actually vastly annoying. However, once we get into "The Oblivion Gene" we realize why we've all picked up this album. They've really made some advances from the EP. "Domine Non es Dignus" returns to the intensity of "The Codex Necro", but they managed to create a far more thought out sounding album. It doesn't sound as chaotic or frantic compared to the debut. Here they also begin to back off from the harsh Black Metal assault and infuse a bit more Death Metal into their riffing style and sound. With this they've also infused a level of atmosphere into some of their compositions, which makes for a much more dynamic listen. Due to this "Domine Non es Dignus" doesn't come off as insane and chaotic, instead it feels a bit more tempered and focused. This isn't, necessarily, a bad thing, since Anaal Nathrakh keep a good level of interest in their writing, so it works pretty well in the end. Still, I'm not sure something as uncompromising as "The Codex Necro" would be easy to pull off again. Vitriol's vocals are as menacing as ever and he certainly rounds out his skill levels with many tracks, even including clean vocals in some sections, which we were first introduced to on the EP. There's even one part of "Do Not Speak" where he absolutely nails the vocal style of John Tardy from Obituary, and I've never heard someone hit that tone as perfectly... other than Tardy himself! That was certainly a pleasant surprise.

In the end, while this is not a return to "The Codex Necro" insanity, they do aim to up the powerful nature of their music with this and it hits hard in that regard. They definitely are trying to play around with the balance of the insanity and the more thought out writing approaches and "Domine Non es Dignus" yields quite the experience in this regard. I really have no complains about this album and I think it is one of their finest. I quite enjoy their new approach far more than what they were doing on the EP, so perhaps that's why this stands out a lot for me.

Anaal Nathrakh - When Fire Rains Down from the Sky, Mankind will Reap as it has Sown
Mordgrimm, 2003
Genre: Black/Death Metal

1. Cataclysmic Nihilism
2. How the Angels Fly in (We can Never be Forgiven)
3. Never Fucking Again
4. Genesis of the Antichrist
5. Atavism
6. When Fire Rains Down from the Sky, Mankind will Reap as it has Sown
BBC Rock Show Live 23, March 2005:
7. Human, All too Fucking Human
8. Swallow the World
9. Do Not Speak


I remember when this came out a friend of mine had an original copy of it, so I was able to give it a listen before I purchased it. Initially I thought it was a pretty weak release and it wasn't until years later when I wanted to fill in my Anaal Nathrakh collection that I eventually purchased a copy of this. The version I have is the 2005 edition published by Earache, which includes the BBC show recorded in 2005.

I after "The Codex Necro" Anaal Nathrakh were left wondering what they could possibly do next. They had already marked their footprint on the metal scene, but what could possibly be next. On this release they clearly wanted to keep their core sound there and in many ways this doesn't really deviate much from the original path. I feel like a little more Death Metal has started creeping into their sound a little bit, but in the grand scheme of Anaal Nathrakh, I'm not really convinced this is a great effort on their part. For some reason, things don't sound as insane and frantic. The shift in this quality to their music feels like they've left something truly missing from their sound. My favorite song on here is probably "Never Fucking Again", because it has this wonderful riff that is vaguely reminiscent of "Submission is for the Weak", but it doesn't have the same edge to it... so in that regard it's also a little disappointing. I think in some tracks they were trying to go for a more haunting and dark edge, but it just doesn't fit amidst all the ferocity they try to include from the first album. I think this is certainly the case with the inclusion of clean vocals on the title track. While Vitriol's vocals are, as expected, good even in this regard, it just didn't help this release any.

The bonus section is mostly taken off of "Domine Non es Dignus", but they open with a track from "The Codex Necro". Apparently, Nick Barker and Shane Embury helped out to fill out the performance. These are extremely interesting versions to listen to, because you can really hear how much is done in studio. They do a good job capturing the original sound, but it feels a lot more raw and minimal compared to the original recording. Vitriol's vocals sound just as devastating here, proving he can really pull this kind of material off in a live setting.

I really hope Anaal Nathrakh can find a solid direction for their sound after their immense debut. Some fans may enjoy this, but I think its only good for the die-hards that really need a complete discography. This just doesn't have the same fire as before. I really hope they can get back some of the intensity for the next full-length.

Anaal Nathrakh - The Codex Necro
Mordgrimm, 2001
Genre: Black Metal

1. The Supreme Necrotic Audnance
2. When Humanity is Cancer
3. Submission is for the Weak
4. Pandemonic Hyperblast
5. Paradigm Shift - Annihilation
6. The Technogoat
7. Incipid Flock
8. Human, All too Fucking Human
9. The Codex Necro







Here is the first exposure I've ever had to Anaal Nathrakh, and at first glance I remember thinking it was pretty good. I mostly remember it being outrageously intense. Anaal Nathrakh have managed to bring the foundation set out in the demos into a far more cohesive light. Instead of really choosing a particular direction, they ended up blending a lot of the earlier material together in a sort of immense melting pot. It makes for quite an incredible debut in the grand scheme of things.

Now, I do agree with a lot of reviewers out there who say Anaal Nathrakh isn't really doing anything new. And that is true, they don't have a new take on the riffing in Black Metal or the way instruments are performed, everything is pretty old hat in that regard. However, when this came out I still felt this was incredibly different from anything else I had heard at the time. It really stood out in my mind as being the most chaotically intense album I had ever heard. Track after track of this album is just an unrelenting punishment, and its interesting to note that not all of the tracks are played at top speed. Despite having sections of songs that are quite slow, they always manage to keep up that devastating essence throughout this recording. I feel like this is one of the major missteps in Marduk's "Panzer Division Marduk", for Anaal Nathrakh have released an album that is far beyond the normal levels of extreme. Even though the general performance isn't hugely different, its really the combination of elements that does this album justice. Vitriol's vocal performance is off the charts in terms of frantic insanity. Some songs have me wondering if he's falling on the "Slowly We Rot" approach from early Obituary where he's just screaming and not actually saying anything. That being said, another aspect of the heaviness is generated by the down tuned and crushing guitar tone, which bears resemblance to Death Metal almost. The riffing is almost entirely Black Metal though. Appropriately to add to this insane atmosphere you will a bit sampling from the movie Event Horizon, which is quite apt as being one of the more terrifying movies of its time.

"The Codex Necro" is quite the whirlwind of an experience. To say their debut is a success is an understatement, especially by 2014 as I write this given their well known appeal in the scene. I feel that "The Codex Necro" holds a special place in my mind as a benchmark of intensity. In some ways Anaal Nathrakh would push the envelope further in the future... but they would never really recreate the intoxicating feel of "Submission is for the Weak".

Anaal Nathrakh - Total Fucking Necro
Leviaphonic Records, 1999
Genre: Black Metal

Anaal Nathrakh: 1999
1. Anaal Nathrakh
2. Necrodeath
3. Ice Blasting Storm Winds
4. Carnage (Mayhem Cover)
Total Fucking Necro: 1999

5. The Supreme Necrotic Audnance

6. Satanarchrist
7. L.E.T.H.A.L.: Diabolic
8. De Mysteriis dom Sathanas (Mayhem Cover)
9. The Technogoat
Bonus:
10. Necrogeddon



I don't own Anaal Nathrakh's demos individually, instead I picked up this compilation shortly after hearing their album "The Codex Necro". I missed out on the original pressing of this release as well, but I managed to obtain the Rage of Achilles version, which is much better than the original. The track listing above reflects the Rage of Achilles version. The version I own has the complete two demos with all the cover songs and bonus track "Necrogeddon", which is the pre-cursor of a track later used on "Domine Non es Dignus". After hearing "The Codex Necro" their material quickly became in high demand. To give you an idea of how old this is, the official Anaal Nathrakh website is housed in a geocities location as stated by the booklet!

I'm actually surprised it took two demos before Anaal Nathrakh got a contract, because after hearing the self-titled demo you can tell this band was really onto something interesting. The band is a duo starring Irrumator on all instruments and programming and V.I.T.R.I.O.L. on vocals... whom I will just call Vitriol at this point. Screw all those periods. One of the shocking things on this release is that this has some of the more realistic sounding drum programming for its time. Even though all this technology was being used Irrumator still managed to keep the music extremely raw, hence the title of the compilation "Total Fucking Necro". The self-titled demo actually has a lot of very catchy and groove styled elements to its style, which is not the norm for late 90's Black Metal. The second demo is truly a shining moment for he project... opening with "The Supreme Necrotic Audnance" we hear this band has already evolved in such a short amount of time. They've seriously upped the intensity level and Vitriol's vocal performance is even more menacing than before. Strangely I feel that "Satanarchrist" mellows out the eel of the albums a little bit. It's a far more melodic song and just doesn't follow the punishing atmosphere of the opening track. From here they proceed to perform one of the better covers of "De Mysteriis dom Sathanas" out there. Part of me sort of wishes they would redo this with their more modern sound, but there's just no replacing the raw viciousness of this I think. Vitriol does a great Atilla for a little while, but then falls into doing his own vocal interpretation, which is really what makes this shine. Its one thing to copy, but can you add your own twist? And he certainly does and the result is something far more frantic than the original. It certainly makes for a great atmosphere.

Between the two demos we have a lot of variation for the project. Catchy sections, some more somber piece, and other absolutely punishing and menacing tracks. Everything has great riffing, but I wonder if they can harness all this power they can apparently wield in their sound. It's obviously time for a full-length to be unleashed next, but we'll see what shape that will take. If I had heard these demos first, I would be wondering what the answer to this question would be.

Subvertio Deus

Subvertio Deus - Psalms of Perdition
Satanic Propaganda Records, 2008
Genre: Black Metal

Repressed:
N:C:U/Exitium Productions, 2012

1. Alpha
2. Psalm I
3. Psalm II
4. Theoria
5. Psalm III
6. Psalm IV
7. Omega





I have only recently been exposed to Subvertio Deus (2013) and I'm honestly surprised I missed out on this release when it was first exposed.  Subvertio Deus are playing a style of Black Metal that really connects with me, because when I was starting to grow a bit disinterested in the genre some bands started doing this new thing where they evoking a dark and sinister atmosphere to agree that I can only describe as the audio representation of a "religious experience" or grand revelation.  "Psalms of Perdition" attempts to capture a similar essence in the vein of philosophical realization.

It seems there are very few bands that manage to do this.  Many attempt to do this, I think, but few succeed. Those who succeed only seem to have one good album of this caliber in their creative bodies.  Deathspell Omega's "Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice" is the only album that Deathspell Omega furnished of this caliber.  Glorior Belli had "O Laudate Dominus", Ondskapt had "Draco Sit Mihi Dux", Sanctus Nex has only one album thus far, Rex Mundi's "IHVH" captured this sound and Mortuus' immense "De Contemplanda Mort" brought one of the finest representations of this sound.  A lot of these bands have only one album of this caliber and I suspect only one will surface of this level of quality and I don't think Subvertio Deus will be any exception to the this.  As said before, many attempt this effort, but few manage to succeed in bringing the listener to full immersion and Subvertio Deus is one of the bands that succeeds.

Musically "Psalms of Perdition" is what you would expect from the above references.  This album stands directly between Deathspell Omega's "Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice" and Ondskapt's "Draco Sit Mihi Dux".  At least this makes sense geographically since the band is from England!  In any event the guitar work is exceptionally well composed, but I think leans more on the Deathspell Omega side and actually manages to bridge the writing ideas of "Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice" and their more modern sound.  At least this is very successfully accomplished with "Psalm IV."  The riffing in that song gets more frenetic as the listener journeys and this is sort of the bridge I wish Deathspell Omega had constructed for it's listeners as they evolved.  Most of the songs have this wonderful plodding clean guitar passages that are entirely expected on an Ondskapt release.  The vocal work is, to me, influenced by Glorior Belli and Ondskapt.  Most of the vocal work is similar to what Infestuus performed with a low sort of gutterul growl.  However, when their vocalist launches into these haunting tortured screams it is directly out of the book of "Draco Sit Mihi Dux."  Recall that Ondskapt would never use this kind of vocal performance again on their later releases, leading me to further suggest bands have one album of this quality in them, even if the band goes on to do other great things as well.  This makes for a beautiful and haunting composition that is quite the journey for the listener.  I really can't expound on how well Subvertio Deus pulled this off.

The only real gripe I have with this release is an aspect of the recording quality.  Everything came out very well done, except for the drum production.  You can hear the drums for the most part, but the bass drum is extremely low in the mix.  I also wish they had made an effort to add more reverb to the drum performance.  One thing that stood out about Ondskapt's "Draco Sit Mihi Dux" is how thunderous the drums came across and how well it enhanced the music.  Subvertio Deus would have benefited from this greatly in their recording quality and it would've been especially haunting during the clean guitar passages.  The other very minor thing I would have changed is I would have gotten rid of the solo during "Psalm IV."  I feel it disrupts the listeners train of thought more than it should, but it is the only time this happens so that is only a very minute concern.  The only thing I would have added is during the outro of "Psalm I" I think I would have had the clean guitar switch to a grand piano as it faded out.  This would have been a very interesting dynamic to add only once into the entire recording.

The booklet is exceptionally well designed and is clearly influenced by Deathspell Omega's "Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmpsice" in format.  Only with Subvertio Deus they took it one step further and added reference and commentary to the lyrics.  It really is like looking at an annotated commentary on a religious work.  It comes across as being highly academic and well referenced, which I found only added appreciation to their work.  Rather than take the usual route of an occult work, they've taken the occult work and provided a sort of commentary.  I think this is a spectacular idea artistically, because it's like taking the seminal work by Deathspell Omega and then having another scholar add in their commentary.  This is very often done with religious works and I love the way it adds to their format and art.

Philosophically I think Subvertio Deus is trying to present a similar concept as what Rex Mundi had in mind philosophically.  This is really backed up by their "artist statement" at the end of the booklet:  "...the purpose of Subvertio Deus was not to propagate any form of Theism or Diabolism, but rather to seek both entities within the self.  By taking ascetic principles and esoteric practices towards pain and taking radical skepticism to logical absurdities; perceptions of reality and self-hood are dissolved and the distinctions of value, meaning and moral judgement collapse without any stones of foundation."  Further in this statement it references this being an "epitaph" for the band and I hope this is not alluding to the project being closed after the single release.  Time will tell with that.

For those entranced by highly philosophical works you will find great merit in this release.  I personally highly recommend it as being beautifully and artfully well done.

Frost (UK)

Frost - Frost
Southern Lord, 2005
Genre: Black Metal

1. Soul
2. Night
3. Awaken
4. Nothing











This is a really curious release.  As soon as I saw this was coming out of the world of Frost, I immediately ordered it.  It made me wonder if this was an Ep to present some of the new material coming up on a future full length.  Unfortunately it doesn't seem that will ever happen since Frost split up in 2008.  Who knows if they will get back together and release more in the future.  For now, this is the final musical work from Frost.  If you got the CD version, you got a 3" CD housed in a regular sized jewel case.  It has no booklet and everything is basically black.  The words for the tracks are extremely difficult to make out, so design wise this is as frustrating to deal with as the fact it's on a 3" CD.  Good luck playing that in a car CD player.  Oh well, this was limited to 1,000 hand numbered copies.  I have #721.

After hearing the masterpiece that was "Talking to God", I was looking forward to new material from Frost.  I think this material sort of caters to the "Talking to God" feel, but it has a much grittier feel in the guitar tone. The drums sound really good though and I think Irrumator is using a new programming system, because the samples sound extremely good.  Unfortunately I'm not sure if the writing entirely competes with "Talking to God".  The song "Awaken" really stands out to me and is extremely well written.  "Night" is really just a groove laden track with a catchy main riff.  "Soul" looks like it was taken from the "Talking to God" writing sessions, but was never used.  The last track, "Nothing", is exclusive to the CD and is a great instrumental.  I'm not sure why there are no vocals on this very strong Black Metal song, but it does carry it's own weight.

The vocals are similar in structure to that on "Talking to God", but they are so much more incomprehensible. I feel like you could understand what The Shid and The Fog were saying much more clearly on other releases... now they rival Anaal Nathrakh in their incomprehensible delivery.

In any event, is this something to kill yourself to track down?  No, I don't think so.  I think "Talking to God' is a much stronger release.  The tracks on here are cool, and I do like the gritty tone this time around, but I don't feel the songs are as well composed.  If you can find it, get it, it's worth hearing, but not worth hunting down.

Now, I've decided to upload "Awaken" even though "Nothing" is a CD exclusive.  I suppose if "Nothing" had vocals I would choose that even if it wasn't as good.  But I want my readers to hear what this sounds like in full... so "Awaken" it is!

Frost - Talking to God
Rage of Achilles, 2004
Genre: Black Metal

1. Sickness
2. Filthy Black Shit
3. And Still the Dreamer Sleeps
4. The Eternal Sea
5. Subliminal Hill
6. The End
7. Two of a Kind
8. No Light
9. Talking to God






I really wish Irrumator would stop changing his name on albums.  On this one he's listed as "Migg"...which I suppose is close to his real name Mick.  On "Cursed Again" he was Irrumator... so he should've just stuck with that.  I hate it when bands do this.  At first glance I thought this was a totally new musician... which I thought was an odd thing to do.

After hearing "Cursed Again" I wanted to see what Frost would continue to work on.  Granted "Cursed Again" didn't give us anything super new and different, so I sort of expected more of the same.  I figured Frost would wind up being just an interesting side project for a major innovator, but I can see Frost turned into something fairly interesting for "Talking to God".  "Talking to God" is way more atmospheric than "Cursed Again" could have ever been.  The guitar arrangements are still fairly similar though.  A lot of tracks feature that slower plodding guitar line that also has a tinge of groove in it to make it fairly catchy.  On "Talking to God" the riff structuring has upped the ante in atmosphere though!  This gave the album a huge change.  I feel like Irrumator changed his guitar tone a little for this album.  On "Cursed Again" he simply used what he was doing with Anaal Nathrakh as the base of the tone, but on "Talking to God" I feel like he thinned things out a little bit.  This gives the structure a strange feel because usually his riffs are very heavy.

The Fog and The Shid are back for yet another vocal onslaught. On "Cursed Again" the vocal performance seemed very similar to Attila on "De Mysteriis dom Sathanas", but I don't feel that is so much the case anymore.  The vocalists feel very separate this time around and adds an extra dynamic to the songs altogether.  I don't know which is which, but one of them does a much higher range vocal and can yield some serious screams.  Luckily that is done sparingly because otherwise it would get extremely annoying.  The other vocalist, the one that sounds more like Attila still maintains that kind of vocal quality, but I feel like he has varied things up a lot more this time around.

They've clearly been given more leeway with booklet and packaging design.  Where "Cursed Again" just gave us a folded piece of paper with lyrics on the interior, "Talking to God" has a full booklet with wonderful design.  The art and layout is actually courtesy of Irrumator and he did quite a fine job on this.  It is a beautiful booklet and artistically exudes the feel of the music in every page.

This is an incredible work and I would highly recommend picking this up if you can.  It's a lot stronger than "Cursed Again", so if you must be faced with a choice I recommend this.  Now the hardest part... do I post a sample for "Talking to God" or "Subliminal Hell"?  Irrumator writes exceptional title tracks for some reason... but since I chose the title track last time lets go with "Subliminal Hell"!

Frost - Cursed Again
Rage of Achilles, 2002
Genre: Black Metal

1. Doom Funeral
2. Down Here
3. The Rise
4. Where I Walk
5. Fields of Rape
6. Rest in Piss
7. Empty of Life
8. Cursed Again






It truly was only a matter of time before I got into Frost (from England, mind you) since I am a fan of Anaal Nathrakh’s work.  For those curious out there, this is basically Anaal Nathrakh without the vocalist V.I.T.R.I.O.L. so it’s just the mastermind behind Anaal Nathrakh’s music, Irrumator.  Now for those out there expecting an extension of Anaal Nathrakh’s approach to be displayed here, prepare for utter disappointment.  Frost is by far their own entity.  Right down to the differences in the guitar distortion approach and guitar arrangements.  Anaal Nathrakh is by far more experimental in most respects against “Cursed Again,” and I would view this album as a more traditional Black Metal release to be perfectly honest.

The big question deals with whether or not “Cursed Again” is really anything different for this genre.  Not really, to be honest.  The tracks seem to switch between fast paced and slow paced.  The faster tracks like “Doom Funeral” and “Down Here” give me a reminiscent feel of the sound from Mayhem’s “De Mysteriis dom Sathanas.”  Frost features two vocalists the The Fog and The Shid, I’m not sure what the purpose of that is, but it is somewhat apparent that the main vocalist, The Fog, was trying to emulate Attila Csihar’s vocals from “De Mysteriis dom Sathanas” on “Doom Funeral.”  They didn’t exactly nail this point, but they didn’t fail miserably to the point where it sounded bad.  It had the right atmospheric approach to compliment the music.  The slower paced tracks, which are really the only things I find to be somewhat new as an approach, have this brooding and lurching Black Metal feel to them, which I think sounds really cool.  It adds a slightly different dimension of atmosphere for me and that is very apparent on the title track, “Cursed Again,” which sounds simply beautiful to me and a definite strong point to close the album with.  The best raging Black Metal song on here is “Empty of Life,” and has one of the better lyrical approaches on the album.  I personally found the lyrics to be halfway decent, sometimes, and just not very thoughtful on others.  This band’s strong point is definitely behind the music at this point in time.

Overall this seems to be a fresh musical approach for all the musicians involved in this project, so I suppose it should come as no surprise that it has a generic Black Metal feel.  I definitely intend to keep my eye on this project to see if it can truly bring forth something fresh for me, considering I’ve heard so much Black Metal over the years.  Frost seems to be on the verge of putting their own twist on something and you can feel it hidden behind these compositions, but all we can do is wait and hope they put out another album together highlighting those more unique points.  Before closing I should say that when I initially listened to this album I didn’t find it all that interesting, but after a few listens I managed to find some really good aspects to it, otherwise I thought this was just an overly average release with very little potential.  Just some food for thought, for those who decide to procure a copy of this album.

Frost - Filthy Black Shit
Self Released, 2001
Genre: Black Metal

1. Doom Funeral
2. Smitten & Sworn
3. Where I walk
4. Fields of Rape
5. Rest in Piss
6. The Rise

I apologize for the tiny cover... it is the largest I could find that wasn't overly pixelated.  If someone can find this in a larger format, maybe 300x300 pixels would be nice... please send it to me!

Here's yet another demo I had to get mp3 only.  I am not sure if this ever got pressed or if it was only ever available for download on the web.  Whichever it is, in 2013 I only have access to a digital copy.  Oh well, to be perfectly honest I wasn't aware there was a demo in existence for this band.  Given the success of Anaal Nathrakh I had always thought this project started at "Cursed Again".  However, seeing as how this project started shortly after the inception of Anaal Nathrakh, I can see why it wouldn't have gone straight to a full length.

Anyway, revisiting this demo is pretty interesting.  Frost's guitar tone and other instrumentation seem to have mirrored that of Anaal Nathrakh as far back as it's beginnings.  From the start Frost was a very different project.  The insane chaos of "Total Fucking Necro" is the complete opposite of Frost's musical intent.  Frost is very deliberate in it's construction and the songs even plod along at a much slower pace compared to the other project.  There are certainly fast parts because the song "Smitten and Sworn" has a serious amount of blasting throughout the song, but it just never reaches the insane levels.  The songs that were later re-released on "Cursed Again", I feel have gone under significant re-construction.  In this earlier form, they feel very different to me for some reason.  Maybe I need to listen and compare to "Cursed Again" more, but I feel like they are quite different.

I think both vocalists are performing on this release.  I am not entirely sure though, because it is harder to separate the performances... if they are indeed different singers.  I'm pretty sure both The Fog and The Shid are working on this.  The vocals are closer in arrangement, there is still one that has an Attila vibe going on, but the other is using the more standard high-range Black Metal growls.  I think the vocal arrangement in "Where I Walk" was changed significantly on the first full length, and this is disappointing, because the vocals really stand out in this song.

This is a good beginning for this project.  You can easily see why Irrumator decided to have this project separate   This is a very strong first recording and I am not surprised that within a year a full length was being released by a record label.  For fans of Irrumators music, I do highly recommend checking out this demo if you can find it.

Even though "Smitten and Sworn" is not the best song on the album, it is also the song that was never released on the following full lengths, so I've decided to include that as the sample below.

The Axis of Perdition

The Axis of Perdition -  Physical Illucinations of the Sewer of Xuchilbara
Code666, 2004
Genre: Black Metal

1. Interference From The Other Side Pendulum Pray
2. Where The World Becomes Flesh
3. Pendulum Prey Reciprocating Horror
4. Reopening Wounds Of The Transition Hospital
5. Heaving Salvation In The Paradise Of Rust







This is a limited edition Ep and only has 666 copies in print, which is standard procedure for the record label Code666 when issuing limited edition copies. After “The Ichneumon Method” I was partially looking forward to the next release. In retrospect “The Ichneumon Method” was a decent release. However, in my opinion it had some character flaws that I couldn't ignore and I wondered if they would put something out that was even more chaotic.

I have to say that this is probably one of the most interesting and frightening albums I've heard this year. This is an incredible improvement for The Axis of Perdition, in my opinion, from their last effort. Basically this album is much less chaotic than the previous, but it is probably twenty times darker and that much more foreboding. While the actual songs are quite chaotic, in that chaos I found some semblance of order. A more exacting and calculating figure bent on hatred to put it in more artistic terms.

As with the last album, The Axis of Perdition conceptually focus on the overall destruction of society and everything related to life. They view it as a filthy existence and want nothing to do with it. This album definitely focuses more on ambiance than metal in comparison to the last album, which is great in my opinion because this gives the whole listen a more intangible and inhuman feel. The album opens with a full song of ambiance and noise which sets the tone for the whole album. It is similar to what Abruptum is probably trying to do, but fail miserably at every single time they enter the studio. Regardless this Axis of Perdition album feels more like an actual story or journey into darkness than “The Ichneumon Method.” An interesting production note is that I found the production to be slightly better on this release. However, on the song “Where the World Becomes Flesh” the vocals appear to be too low in the mix. I think this is on purpose though, because it adds for an interesting background feel to the music. Later in the album the vocals get louder. “Heaving Salvation in the Paradise of Rust” is simply an incredible conceptual piece by this band. The previous track is just emergency vehicle sirens, so it sets the listener up for something horrible happening. The last track opens with a clean guitar passage and follows down a very gloomy path. It hits into a metal section once in the song with varying ambiance and samples as is The Axis of Perdition's prerogative in the past.

In summation I would say if anyone is looking for anything that is overwhelmingly dark and intense at the same time, this is the album to get. I somewhat wish this was not a limited edition album because I believe more people should hear this album. Overall, if I had to give this a quick description I would say that if Pinhead from Hellraiser listened to any album regularly, it would be this one.

Note: I found this out well after this release. This was originally to be a split release with Blut Aus Nord, but things didn't work out and each half was a released as it's own separate Ep. The Blut Aus Nord half is "Thematic Emanation of Archetypal Multiplicity" and upon hearing that I realized this would have been an incredible split. Bringing everything here more into the realms of a full length feel. For after the short work The Axis of Perdition do here, I realize I wanted more of this. If I remember correctly, the Blut Aus Nord side was intended to be first and build into The Axis of Perdition half.