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Anorexia Nervosa - Drudenhaus review



Reviewer:
8.6

117 users:
8.16
Band: Anorexia Nervosa
Album: Drudenhaus
Release date: 2000


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.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 9
Originality: 7
Production: 8





Written on 26.04.2007 by If you're interested in extreme, often emotional and underground music, check out my reviews. I retired from reviewing, but I really used to be into that stuff.


Comments

Comments: 8   Visited by: 82 users
26.04.2007 - 20:34
Rating: 9
Katatronik
Angel of Lust
I totally agree with you, a great album in my opinion, especially the "Wagner"-piano parts... And Hreidmarr is an amazing vocalist, too bad he had left...
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"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,
and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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26.04.2007 - 20:39
Lucas
Mr. Noise
Yeah, it's really a shame they're without him now. Hope he decides to re-join.
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SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?

"The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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26.04.2007 - 20:56
Rating: 8
Bas
Retired Staff
hehe, one of the few black metal albums that i really like, good job
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BAS - Beautifully Accented Sexiness
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26.04.2007 - 20:58
Lucas
Mr. Noise
Thanks. I know you don't like much Black.

Btw, is it due to the Symphonics you like this one?
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SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?

"The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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12.04.2008 - 05:21
Uirapuru
Liver Failure
Amazing album.. AN its sure the best sympho black ever... its better than Catamenia, Old Man's Child and Naglfar together really fast and powerful songs... best album in a draw with New Obscurantis order.
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member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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03.01.2009 - 08:03
meben
Account deleted
I think he will join it again & that best for everyone.



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19.03.2011 - 02:07
Luneth
Account deleted
I think 8.6 is a tad high...8 is probably a tad high....the lyrics are awful, not poetic in any way. The keyboards are pretty outstanding I've gotta say, though a bit too overbearing, as for the drums, well, they stand out, but are so over the top I felt like I was listening to Dimmu Borgir and Emperor combined into one. This could easily pass as an Extreme Symphonic album, nothing wrong with that...I'd give it a 7, there are some good moments on it.
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14.10.2011 - 06:14
mapanoy

You are right. I agree with you
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