U.K.’s Anaal Nathrakh have always been a two man project, originally never intended for stage performances. This black/grind outfit has released its fifth full length outing last year, entitled In The Constellation Of The Black Widow. In the meantime the band has been on a stage quite a few times now, backed up by live members of course. Personally I got hooked on this band last year when driving back from Wacken Open Air, let me explain my love for these guys to you.

The simple harshness of this band is so overwhelming, when playing one of their records at any time you will immediately sense what I mean. Over the top drum computer blastbeats combined with melodic and brutal black metal riffing make a powerful and solid cocktail of furious mayhem music. But the thing that really makes this band stand out are the vocals. On one hand you have over the top distorted screams and grunts that fit the unfriendly feeling of the music perfectly. But on the other hand vocalist Dave Hunt also likes to throw in some traditional heavy metal vocalism, which somehow really appeals to me. I guess it’s one of those ‘either you like it or you don’t’ things.

 

Regarding In The Constellation Of The Black Widow, it basically continues where we were left after Hell Is Empty, And All The Devils Are Here. The same black/grind mixture is unleashed upon the listener with perhaps a slightly better production/mix. For the rest I think I can say that fans of this band can pick this one up blindly, if you don’t have it already. All in all I’d say that Anaal Nathrakh once again delivered the goods, another strong effort for their catalogue and for my record collection!