01. The Road To? 02. Obscene As Cancer 03. The Reek Of Fear 04. Forward! 05. New Bethlehem/Mass Death Futures 06. The Apocalypse Is About You! 07. Vi Coactus 08. Mother Of Satan 09. The Horrid Strife 10. Are We Fit For Glory Yet? (The War To End Nothing)
Anaal Nathrakh's A New-ish Kind Of Horror comes from the same family as The Whole Of The Law and Desideratum: the traditional cesspit of black metal, grindcore, and industrial metal broken up by clean choruses, now littered with electronics, groove, and other increasingly disparate elements. The duo hasn't yet gone full-bore into this more avant-garde side yet, but the metal side remains wicked.
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And I see the blade fall down upon the head of lord in heaven
And Darkness falls upon the end of history
While I drink the milk of the Black Goddess and cry over the mankind
I guess their winning streak had to end at one point or another. The bland, near-metalcore riffing makes the the harsher elements sound weak and uninspired and the would-be hooks closer to cheesy than epic (I'm looking at you, track 8). Like they laid the groundwork and then forgot to add melodies and pads, making the better parts ("New Bethlehem" is a great song no doubt) overshadowed by long stretches of mindless chugging...
Damn, I was really hoping they would go further down the electronic path, those little glitch/industrial additions just fit perfectly on previous albums, but instead they are treading water and losing steam. They seem to be getting great reviews though so must have done something right but I don't get it...
Some of their later albums have been, well, less stellar than others, but still managed to keep it interesting by adding new elements to the mix (see above) or exploring vocal styles (e.g. "Tod Heutet Uebel", "Extravaganza"). This album sadly plays too safe and no machine gun sample in the world could save it.
One of my favorite releases this year. Checking out their back catalog. I enjoyed Whole of the Law as well. These guys just don't sound like anyone else. It's a short album, but that's appreciated considering many bands regularly surpass the 60 minute mark, making it hard to digest the whole think in one sitting. This is just the opposite, I can put it on and it's over before you know it.
I actually really like this album, which surprised me a little after getting a bit bored with the few previous ones. I didn't really find the modern elements obnoxious here, and "Mother Of Satan" is like something from Codex Necro ... brilliant.
I've been going through this bands discography this week and I don't get the hype. They are a one trick pony who get old really fast. They have maybe one or two albums worth checking out and even then, they're just okay records. Vastly overrated band.