Labels: Season Of Mist
Review by: Chris Bress
Not many bands of this ilk get better as they develop, look at Mayhem and Darkthrone. Unfortunately neither do Anaal Nathrakh. Their latest has most of the qualities their predecessors had to offer, brutally fast drum machines, harsh screams from down below and guitars de-tuned to fuck but it still doesn’t cut it. It lacks the basic head-down fuckery and above all, it doesn’t make me want to vomit (even though the first track features actual vomiting) which is what Suffocation made me want to do last night. The best track, “do not speak”, has some amazing guitar melodic guitar playing but it sounds a little too developed and carries on too long for my liking. It also has some classic thrash vocals that start off good but end up just sounding a bit silly. “Do not speak” is still ultra grim and is the most listenable track on the whole record. The rest of the record just didn’t grab me, especially the track which kicks off sounding like bloody Fear Factory (although, they were good at the time!!).