ANAAL NATHRAKH: TITLE, RELEASE DATE, AND ALBUM ART FOR “VANITAS” SURFACE

 Metal News  12 Responses »
Sep 012012
 

Well, well, look at what popped up on Anaal Nathrakh’s Facebook page (here) a couple of hours ago. Though there hasn’t yet been any official press about it, I believe this confirms that the name of their next album is Vanitas and that it will be released on October 15 by Candlelight Records. And lookie what else I found — a page where the album appears to be available for pre-order (here) that includes a small image of the album cover:

You may think that “vanitas” means “vanity”, and so it does, but it also means “emptiness” and has connotations about “the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits”. “Vanitas” was also the name given to a genre of still-life painting that flourished in the Netherlands in the early 17th century, usually containing “collections of objects symbolic of the inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements and pleasures”.

This album has been finished since March of this year. Here’s what AN’s Dave Hunt said about it in an interview about three days after it was completed: Continue reading »

BLOODSTOCK 2012 – A REVIEW AND MUSIC FROM THE FESTIVAL (Part 2)

 Concert Reviews  2 Responses »
Aug 292012
 

(Our UK correspondent Andy Synn, who is a lucky devil, attended the mammoth BLOODSTOCK festival earlier this month and delivered a report on the performances. You can find his review of the festival’s Friday and Saturday shows at this location, and today we’ve got his write-up about what he saw and heard on BLOODSTOCK’s final day — plus a collection of videos (some of which are full sets) at the end.)

SUNDAY

Unfortunately, the first band to assault my ears on the last day of Bloodstock were the generally uninspired Kobra & The Lotus, a band who the metal media have been trying desperately to ram down our throats for some time now, but who don’t have the songs or presence to justify it. Not the worst band in the world by a long shot, but memorable only for how forgettable they were, and for the singer’s often flat, often forced, vocals.

So it’s a good thing we had Nile! After some admittedly hilarious sound problems (where you could hear the sound guy shouting and swearing at everyone to ‘Fuck off! We’re not ready!” after Nile tried to start their intro a tad early), the quartet finally kicked into a sterling set of challenging death metal mechanics. The new songs are definitely finding their place in the complex algorithm of Nile’s set, while a run-in by members of The Black Dahlia Murder for the climactic chant-along of “Black Seeds of Vengeance” helped add to that special “festival-feeling”.

Speaking of The Black Dahlia Murder, they were up next and also faced the unappealing task of presenting their razor-sharp melodic death metal to a crowd that had seemingly greeted their announcement with either measured ambivalence or outright hostility. But with good natured aplomb, and some hilarious stage banter, the quintet were definitely up to the challenge, packing an impressive number of songs into a short time slot in an effort to win over as many with their music as possible. Kudos for the handling of the naked guy (“Raise him up, I want to see his penis… no wait, keep him away from security… oh no, they got him. Enjoy jail dude!”), and well done on ending the set with more people in the field than they started with. Continue reading »

NEWS FROM THE DARKEST PITS OF HELL: ANAAL NATHRAKH AND DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT

 Metal News  9 Responses »
Apr 052012
 

I apologize to the people of England. Your country is not the darkest pit of hell. It just seems that way sometimes. After all, it is home to Anaal Nathrakh and Dragged Into Sunlight.

These bands are not for the weak of spirit, nor do they appeal to people with mushy-brained, whitebread, mainstream-metal tastes. Instead, they appeal to people like me who enjoy metal that makes them feel as if they’ve been gutted with icepicks, sucked dry by leeches, and infested with burrowing maggots. Anaal Nathrakh give you a nightmarish rocket-ride into the abyss, and Dragged Into Sunlight trap you there in a vat of acid sludge that slowly liquifies your flesh.

Okay, maybe I’m getting carried away, but there’s no denying that these bands make seriously fucked up music for seriously fucked up people. Naturally, I love both of them! And I have some news about both of them.

ANAAL NATHRAKH

AN were putting the finishing touches on their new album in January, and not long ago they added a note on their FB page promising an album teaser in the near future. Today, they unveiled a new shirt design created by Ryan Kasparian (whose web site is here). You can see it up top. It is so fucking cool that I had to post about it. I also had to pre-order it. You can pre-order it, too, via this link. I would like to make a polite suggestion to AN: GET RYAN FUCKING KASPARIAN TO DESIGN THE NEW ALBUM COVER!

You can be sure that we will post the album teaser as soon as it’s ready. And now, on to DIS . . . Continue reading »

PHRO TRIES TO REMEMBER WHAT YEAR IT IS AND WHAT FUCKING ALBUMS CAME OUT THIS YEAR

 Listmania, Phro's Posts  41 Responses »
Dec 122011
 

(The time has come.  What time is that?  Why, it’s the time when we begin publishing our own series on the best metal of 2011 — lists created by our writers, guest contributors, and members of metal bands who we’ve specially invited to share with us their lists.  And what better way to start than by turning to Phro for the kick-off?)

Ahhh . . . 2011, how quickly you came and . . . went?  Are going?  Let’s just stick with came for now.

What a year it has been!  I think.  I don’t really remember it.  I think there was something to do with tentacles and a few zombie girls.  Seriously, someone please make the whole zombie/vampire/werewolf thing stop happening.  Please.  I’m begging you.  I can only take so much pithy teen angst foisted upon poor hapless creatures of the night.  GIVE THEM BACK THEIR BALLS, DAMNIT!!!

Seriously.  And wizards, too.  Enough of that shit.

Oh, right, and there was music, too.  Particularly metal music.  Particularly good metal music.  (Anyone who ever utters the words, “It’s been a bad year for metal,” should go out behind the chicken chopping shed and punch themselves in the throat with a rooster.  You fucking lazy scum fucker.)  But it`s the end of the year, and it’s not enough to simply say there was a lot of it.  You people from the Internet want proof all of the sudden!  You freaks with your memes and your porn and your meme porn and your porn memes.  And your rules!!!  So many rules!  Well, I have a new rule for you.  Rule number 0.5.  It states, quite clearly: anything that can be made into furry-rape-scat porn should be made into furry-rape-scat porn and then broadcasted on CNN, FOX, and MSNBC until foxes look sexy.  (But only when they`re covered in poop.)

Poop, poop, poop, poop . . . poop . . . poooooooooooooop . . . Continue reading »

ANAAL NATHRAKH: “MAN AT C&A”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Sep 202011
 

Sometimes I’m so on top of breaking news and music releases that I’m writing about it BEFORE it happens, kind of precognitively, know what I mean? And then other times, I’m so fucking slow on the uptake that I embarrass myself (and that takes some doing). Today is one of the embarrassed, slow-on-the-uptake days.

On September 6, we reported here that Anaal Nathrakh would be covering a song by a famous ska band who hit their apex in the 80’s called The Specials. The recording was to be included in DECIBEL magazine’s Flexi-Disc series. I subscribe to that magazine, but I have no turntable, so I generally just stare at the disk and wait for it to communicate its musical nature to me in some manner other than through audio waves. That usually turns out to be a long wait.

I had serious difficulty getting my mind around the concept of an Anaal Nathrakh cover of “Man at C&A”. Some of you weren’t all that perplexed by this choice. Well, you were right and I was wrong, because now I’ve heard the song and I fucken love it. The AN cover has been available for streaming since last Thursday, but of course I didn’t notice it until last night (see above re slow-as-a-fucking-sloth).

I may be late writing about this song, but I want to do something to make up for my tardiness. So, after the jump, I’ll enable you to listen not only to the AN cover but also to The Specials’ original, so you can better appreciate the complete re-wiring of the song that AN accomplished — though without completely losing touch with the original music. Check it out. Continue reading »

IN THE NEWS AND IN THE EARS: CANNIBAL CORPSE, MASTODON, FUCK THE FACTS, AND ANAAL NATHRAKH

 Uncategorized  33 Responses »
Sep 062011
 

Here are four things that got my attention earlier today. I’m betting that everyone who reads this will be interested in at least one of these items. And, just in case that’s a bad guess, we have porn after the jump.

ITEM ONE

I don’t think I have to do anything but excerpt these quotes from the Metal Blade press release. It was enough for me.

Cannibal Corpse has begun recording their twelfth studio album at Sonic Ranch studios in Texas with producer Erik Rutan. The band has spent months writing the album and has recorded at Sonic Ranch in the past, but never with Rutan at the helm. More details on the album, including art, songs, title and more will be revealed in the months to follow. For now, the band is hard at work forging their next death metal offering.

Erik Rutan worked with Cannibal Corpse for both Kill (2006) and Evisceration Plague (2009) and is returning for a third time. Rutan explains further: “I am super excited to work with Cannibal Corpse for our 3rd album together. We are determined to make the best album we possibly can. Everyone is very focused and the new material is awesome. There is a great blend of classic, old school CC with a newer, more heavy, dynamic and aggressive approach. I look forward to the challenge of making one heavy as hell record!”

(more after the jump, including porn . . .) Continue reading »

AGALLOCH AND ANAAL NATHRAKH LIVE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
Jul 162011
 

I’ve seen Oregon-based Agalloch perform live only once, but it was one of the best metal shows I’ve ever seen. I felt like the music was a living thing and it had completely swallowed me up. I was literally in a daze for a long time after the show ended at something like 1:30 am, and I hadn’t been using any intoxicants (except the music).

I’ve never seen Britain’s Anaal Nathrakh in a live show, but I hope that’s not too far off in my future. Their catastrophic, vitriolic style of black grind is another kind of all-consuming music, though quite different from Agalloch’s brand of melodic black metal.

Both bands performed at the Scion Rock Fest in Pomona, California, in March, and Scion released professionally filmed videos of the performances late last week. We’ve got a handful of them for you after the jump. Is it the next best thing to being there? No — the next best thing would be walking out of the venue having heard the whole show. But it’s pretty damned sweet.

After the jump, probably my favorite Agalloch song, “Not Unlike the Waves”, plus “Into The Painted Grey”, and then Anaal Nathrakh performing “When the Lion Devours Both Dragon and Child” and “Don Not Speak”. There’s one very weird thing about the AN videos. Continue reading »

THAUMATURGIC THURSDAY: ANDY SYNN’S ABRIDGED GUIDE TO POST-MILLENNIAL BLACK METAL

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  28 Responses »
Jul 072011
 

OK, time to court some (albeit minor) controversy. To compare and contrast with the “Wintermoon Wednesday” piece on post-millennial black metal by Tr00 Nate (unseen at the time of this writing) over at TheNumberOfTheBlog, I’ve decided to list my own picks for the prize.

I’ve left out the obvious choices, so no Satyricon or 1349 – even though the former have transformed themselves post-2000 very successfully, courting both success and controversy in equal measure, while the latter have pushed their hyper-blast style beyond the breaking point, only to discover a new lease on life through their exploration of gnarled, twisted atmospherics.

No Rotting Christ? Or Samael? Nope. I love both of them, but they both had long pre-millennial careers and spent much of the post-2000 stage of their careers exploring less focussed, less black metal sounds — although both have recently released masterful examples of their own focussed and distinctive brands of black metal.

I have left out records which are perhaps less “purely” black metal — records for which a strong case can be put forward that they belong more as “blackened” examples of another genre — so there’s no place for Altar Of Plagues or Withered, both great bands in their own right. No Akercocke either, the sheer weight of their crushing death metal heft disqualifying them for this list.

I have also by choice left out artists/albums I have covered recently. Therefore, no Iskald (though The Sun I Carried Alone IS one of the best black metal albums of the last ten years), or Elite (see HERE for my thoughts) or The Axis Of Perdition (HERE), even though I’d argue that each of them has at least one example under their belt of near perfect post-millennial black metal.

So who have I chosen? Well look upon my choices dear reader, and despair… Continue reading »

IT’S ALL BLACK

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Jun 072011
 

At the risk of swamping you in too much music for a single post, I’m collecting four items here that I discovered this past weekend. The unifying theme for this collection is blackness.

Black, as in Black Dahlia Murder covering “This Mortal Coil” by Carcass, with Jeff Walker on guest vocals. Black, as in a good-quality video of Anaal Nathrakh performing “Do Not Speak” at a club in Paris on May 31. Black, as in news about a tribute album to Enslaved, featuring 20 bands (plus the schedule for a fall North American tour by Enslaved along with Ghost and Alcest). Black, as in another quality performance video — of Belphegor vomiting forth satanic spew in Denver on May 16. Without further ado …

BLACK DAHLIA MURDER

For some reason, I continue to receive my copy of DECIBEL magazine way early. I’m not complaining. Well, maybe I’m complaining a little. I’ve had the July issue for a week now — the one with Trey Azagthoth and David Vincent of Morbid Angel on the cover and a big feature inside about their new album Illud Duvinum Insanus — which has already generated an insanus amount of controversy in the web-world (much of it among people who haven’t even heard the album yet).

Because I received the issue early, that means I’ve had a week to stare at the “flexi disc” inside — the recording on a piece of plastic of Black Dahlia Murder covering “This Mortal Coil” by Carcass. I’ve been staring at it because listening isn’t an option — since I don’t own a fucking turntable. I’ve been waiting semi-patiently for someone to transfer the music to digital and put it up on YouTube, which has now finally happened. The digital transfer didn’t happen seamlessly — you can hear some of the imperfections on the flexi-disc — but the BDM cover is a slayer.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

REVOLVER GOLDEN GODS AWARDS ANNOUNCED: LET THE HURLING BEGIN

 Metal News  64 Responses »
Apr 222011
 

I don’t know why I’m posting about this. It’s not news that I give two shits about, and we usually avoid posts that just make fun of people. On the other hand, when people make themselves look ridiculous without any assistance from us, then I guess it’s fair game. And I suppose this could be considered “newsworthy” in the sense that it’s further confirmation that Revolver magazine and everything associated with it has become an utter irrelevancy to metal as it exists today.

So, after the jump, you can see the list of award winners at “America’s only hard-rock and heavy-metal award show” presented on April 21 at Club Nokia in beautiful downtown Los Angeles. (Can that really be true?!?  Fuck, NCS should start its own award show just so Revolver can never honestly use that line again.)

And to make myself feel better about this otherwise worthless post, here is some REAL news — this post that appeared on the Anaal Nathrakh Facebook page last night: “Today we got a USA booking agent and we are workin on a USA tour!” Continue reading »

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