Anaal Nathrakh - Vanitas

Published November 14 2012

*=Staff's pick	The Blood-Dimmed Tide Forging Towards The Sunset To Spite The Face* Todos Somos Humanos In Coelo Quies, Tout Finis Ici Bas* You Can't Save Me, so stop fucking trying* Make Glorious The Embrace Of Saturn Feeding The Beast Of Fire, And Fucking Pigs* A Metaphor For The Dead

Genre	Black Metal/Grindcore	V.I.T.R.I.O.L	Vocals
Tracks	10	Irrumator	Guitar
Running time	40 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Season Of Mist	Irrumator	Bass
Release	15 October 2012	Irrumator	Drums
Country	England	-	Keyboard
Producer	Mick Kenney
Similar artists	---

The British two-man constellation Anaal Nathrakh has since the inception of the band in the late 1990s made themselves busy writing music fit to accompany us as soundtrack to the rapture of this planet. But they have to try harder to write music that really scares the shit out of me in other ways than by pure quality than on Vanitas.

To be sure Dave V.I.T.R.I.O.L. Hunt's scream at the end of In Coelo Quies, Tout Finis Ici Bas is terrifying, but other than that Anaal Nathrakh displays an ability to write music with killer choruses and, likewise, a paralyzing ability to package noise and sick sounds in a truly sympathetic way. In fact, I can't remember that I have heard the band more accessible than on Vanitas - the production is nice and fat and I can honestly say that soundwise I enjoy listening to this record in an absolute way.

The extremes can be found in two things - the songs are solid and on a very high level. I marvel at the consistency in quality songwriting that this band is showcasing on record after record. The other factor is that Dave Hunt is taking his vocal exercises to new levels of insanity. Raged and tormenter screams as taken from the utmost gruesome chambers of torture mixes seamlessly with pure-singing and beautiful harmonies. Check out To Spite The Face for a brilliant example of this.

Vanitas is a killer album on which Anaal Nathrakh once again show that they are at the top tier of the extreme music scene. Impressive.

See also review of: The Whole Of The Law , Desideratum , Passion

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
8	8	9	8	8

Summary
8 chalices of 10 - Martin