i like industrial metal a lot. enough to check out most any band i hear could fit within the label. so i check this band out, and i hear pandemonic hypberblast. it's pretty intense upon repeated listens and i figure an entire album of this would rule. i thought it sounded like teetering on the line between actual music and noise so the end result is an extremely pissed off piece of work, extremely cathartic. i would love it and most everyone else would hate it and that's about how it worked out once i got the cd.
the only problem is that the overall noise factor diminishes as you listen to it because they have catchy riffs, synthetic basslines, and other works of melody to show you that, well, that's how they write music. so it's not total noise through and through. there are lots of songs on the album that will stick in your brain, proving itself to be a worthy release in the world of black metal at the moment. i don't think it beats a blaze in the northern sky or most emperor or whatever... but you don't really buy it expecting that. you will probably buy this because you, like me, enjoy harsh horrible music with lots of infernal screaming with an industrial tinge. this band has it. though like i said, it becomes less noisy with repeated listens as you find out the way the songs work. that's kind of a let down for me, but overall it's a good album.
if you like this sort of stuff and the quirkiness it may entail, i'd recommend some noise artists like merzbow, or agoraphobic nosebleed's altered states of america, axis of perdition(good black metal with drum machine, a little cleaner than Anaal, but still very raw), red harvest's cold dark matter, and atari teenage riot's burn, berlin, burn. later..
A savage mix of brutal grinding riffs and unbelievably fast use of a drum machine make for an impressive and unyeilding "debut" (There were plenty of demos before this). Anaal Nathrakh is necro metal at it's best. Listen to Pandemonic Hyperblast just once, and you'll be a changed person...
The Codex Necro has quickly become one of my favorite albums. It contains the most intense and aggressive music that I have ever heard, and listening to this album was like finally finding what I had always been looking for. There isn't a bad song on the album, though the last two tracks do have a lower sound quality than the rest of the album. The first three tracks stand out, though, as does the Technogoat and Incipid Flock.
A lot of people seem to have a problem with the electronic aspect of Anaal Nathrakh, but I think they need to get over themselves. I had no idea that the drums were not real until I read it online, and the vocals and guitar are still the most violent that you will ever hear. So even if it's not 'real', its still immaculate, and it is far from being over produced or techno/industrial.
Some say that the Codex Necro is the sound track for the apocalypse. I say its audio rape and murder. If you like your music extreme, you can not miss this album. This is about as virulent as it gets.
