Anaal Nathrakh – Passion

• Country: United Kingdom
• Style: Black metal / Grindcore
• Label: Candlelight Records
• Release date: 17 May 2011

Around 36 minutes, ten tracks, almost no air. On Passion the duo split the work as usual: Mick Kenney handles guitars, bass and drum programming, Dave Hunt handles the vocals, and the whole thing hits at a level that leaves little room for dynamics.

That is both the appeal and the flaw. The production has a rougher, less clinical feel than you might expect, which helps “Drug-Fucking Abomination”, the longest piece at over seven minutes, breathe between blasts and build a genuine arc. The short pieces are another matter. “Locus of Damnation” lasts about a minute and feels like an offcut rather than a deliberate interlude, and the sequencing stalls whenever these fragments interrupt the flow.

The guests are better used. Rainer Landfermann appears on “Tod Huetet Uebel” and Alan Dubin on “Ashes Screaming Silence”, and both voices add a different texture to Hunt’s attack. Great riffs. Uneven running order.

Best tracks:

Drug-Fucking Abomination
Volenti Non Fit Iniuria
Tod Huetet Uebel

Author’s rating: 7.4/10