Album Review : Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment (2020)
I remember when Donald Trump won the U.S presidential election, four years ago. Everyone agreed it would be a fucking disaster, but some tried to find a silver lining: “hey, it might inspire cool art,” they said. Well, it didn’t. The world has been a shit show since and no one’s able to deal with it artistically. No one, except the people who already thought the world was a shit show. People like Mick Kenney and Dave Hunt, the creative forces behind Anaal Nathrakh.
To no one’s surprise, Anaal Nathrakh have taken 2020 by force with their best album since Vanitas: Endarkenment.
These two lovely Brits have redefined how we think about extreme music, which makes them forever important. At least in metal circles. Their debut album The Codex Necro has pulverized my eardrums for twenty years and while the band understandably lost some of its breakneck aggression over the years, it has gained in sophistication. Kenney and Hunt have reinvented themselves more than once, notably with the inclusions clean vocals to their audio onslaught.
Domine Non Es Dignus and In the Constellation of the Black Widow are two of these awe-inspiring moment of reinvention. Anaal Nathrakh has somewhat settled into a formula that allows them to release an album every two years, which has drawn criticism in the past. Notably from me. On Endarkenment, the band seems at peace with the idea of not reinventing the wheel anymore. They are perfecting their anger-fueled rocket ship instead.
Starting with the title song, Endarkenment is exactly what you’d expect of a best-case scenario Anaal Nathrakh record. Angry, chaotic, passionate and surprisingly catchy? It’s their most fun singalong with Forging Towards the Sunset, yet it’s more sophisticated and ambitious. Same for the second single The Age of Starlight End, which is rhythmed with weird, faded shrills that add an unexpected touch of vulnerability to their songwriting.
Thematically, Endarkenment is very much a statement. The band published all their lyrics already, which I believe is a first. It deals with rejecting a world that turned its back to values of enlightenment. Create Art, Though the World May Perish is perhaps the most positive song Dave Hunt’s ever written. Right off the gate, it explodes with maniacal laughter and claims that the only escape from this rotting society is through creating alternate realities with art.
It’s wicked. Listen for yourselves:
Another song that struck hard was Beyond Words, a three and a half minutes wordless avalanche of rage and bile. I don’t know why Anaal Nathrakh never tried this before, but raw, primal emotions Dave Hunt convey on the song are unsettling. Libidinous (A Pig With Cocks in its Eyes) is (I believe) their #metoo song. Unlike the others it’s anchored around a weird, dissonant, obsessive keyboard sample that shades the piece with a melancholic aura.
It’s a very in-your-face song that deals with ravenous, unchecked desire that controls human beings who have cowardly surrendered to it. Sonically, it’s the most daring song on the record. I’m glad they didn’t use it for lead single, though. It would’ve built up the wrong expectations. Only songs I liked a little less on Endarkenment are the last three: Singularity, Punish Them and Requiem. They are not terrible, just forgettable compared to the others.
Endarkenment is a really good Anaal Nathrakh record. While it can’t possible live up to The Codex Necro or In the Constellation of the Black Widow, it is the most refined and mature version of their late era sound. They have also dialed down on clean singing and added distortion to Dave Hunt’s voice, which some will enjoy. I mean, this is who they are. This is what they do best. If you are disappointed by Endarkenment, the problem is not the record. It’s you.
You might’ve been one of these people who claimed Donald Trump’s presidency would foster great art.
8.2/10
