Anaal Nathrakh - Vanitas (2012)

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Total aural destruction is probably the best way to describe Anaal Nathrakh’s latest ear-piercing sonic abuse of a release titled “Vanitas”. As one of the band’s that constantly keeps improving their abilities to abuse the listener through their extreme music, Anaal Nathrakh has done it again with this release and delivers ten punishing tracks that will make your head fall off after headbanging for almost 40 minutes.

Blasting this release wide open with “The Blood Dimmed Tide”, the band opens with some Industrial-ish passage before heading to full-blown chaos. The vocals are as crushing as always, and the drumming is as intense as ever. The traditional deranged screams nicely make this piece very memorable indeed. Blasting into “Forging Towards the Sunset”, we are barely given any time to mellow out when the abuse returns. This track has some cool clean vocals that add a bit of an epic feeling to the song in the same way that Emperor did back in “In the Nightside Eclipse”.

Shaking things up, the melodic “To Spite The Face” is quite entertaining, showing the band can be brutal with many different approaches. However, the Meshuggah-esque “Todos Somos Humanos” is quite an interesting track for fans of that very complex style of Metal. The album follows a sort of alternating pattern between senseless brutality (we love it) and some more structured and melodic tracks with their own dosage of brutality. We quite enjoy this since it allows the band to keep the listener engaged and appeals to a broader audience.

Our favorite track is the sickening (in a good way) “Feeding The Beast” and its super catchy riffing. The album closes with more brutality in the shape of “Of Fire And Fucking Pigs”, and with the surprising “A Metaphor For The Dead”. This last track features a Melodic/Symphonic Black Metal edge, and with some vocals that we can swear belongs to the one and only Vortex.  In general, Anaal Nathrakh has delivered their most mature and complex release to date, every song is perfectly crafted and now blends their brutality with a fresher melodic edge that will surely surprise the haters of the band.

Band: Anaal Nathrakh Album: Vanitas
Label: Candlelight Records

Release: November 6th, 2012

Oficial Site myspace

Genre: Extreme Metal

Country: UK

Rating: 90/100
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