Band:	Anorexia Nervosa
Album:	Drudenhaus
Style:	Symphonic black metal
Release date:	2000
A review by:	Lucas

01. A Doleful Night In Thelema
02. The Drudenhaus Anthem
03. God Bless The Hustler
04. Enter The Church Of Fornication
05. Tragedia Dekadencia
06. Divine White Light Of A Cumming Decadence
07. Dirge & Requiem For My Sister Whore
08. Das Ist Zum Erschiessen Schon
09. The Red Archromance

Drudenhaus, the third offering of French Symphonic Black Metallers Anorexia Nervosa. Now, what does Drudenhaus actually mean? A little research teaches us that:

Drudenhaus is the name of a prisoner's camp built in 1627 on the pinnacle of the Witch Hunting. This camp was built primarily to contain 30 to 40 witches, until the day of judgment. Other 'Drudenhäuser' were in Zeil, Hallstadt and Kronach.

So this is a concept album about the Witch Huntings? No. Their lyrics deal mostly with themes such as violence and depression, that is, the ones in English. In most of their songs they mix up English lyrics with French ones. This is something not a lot of bands manage to pull off in the right way, but lyric-writer Hreidmarr does a good job with it. Their lyrics are like poems, sometimes tender and soft, sometimes violent and aggressive.

As aggressive as the lyrics are at given times, so is the violent music of this little masterpiece. The guitars and bass are not really present on the frontline, but act more as a constant back-up for the other instruments. The ones playing a major role in this piece of work are the drums (madman behind the kit!) and of course the Keyboards. Especially the keyboards, they are the first thing you'll notice on this album. Neb Xort (keys) has truly poured his soul into the music as he performs one of the greatest symphonic shows ever. Another member who gave his soul to the devil in return for great inspiration is Hreidmarr. His lyrics are great as I mentioned earlier, as is his vocal performance. Occasionally clean or spoken but mainly hateful and tormented, he delivers a great deal of emotion of which this silver disc already has so much.

With the intro 'A Doleful Light In Thelema' the album starts heavy and majestically, preparing the listener for the whirlwind of music to come. What follows is one of the best songs of the album, 'The Drudenhaus Anthem'. This little beast has it all: great melodic and moody key parts, vicious drumming and a fantastic vocal performance. Then the rest of the album goes on in the same way until it reaches the great last breath: The Red Archromance.

So for closers, Drudenhaus is something every fan of (Symphonic) Black Metal must have heard at least once. For you downloaders too lazy to download entire albums I advise the following tracks: The Drudenhaus Anthem and The Red Archromance.

And I will cry over heavens. No wound shall ever satisfy my senses.