09-02-2010Live reviews - Anaal Nathrakh

07-02-2010: Live at Mohos Manchester with Marduk

Now then people, listen in. If you like your music extreme, then this Brummie quintet are next in line for the Throne as they are rapidly progressing to be 'The Ones.' Napalm Death (what is it with bands from Brum being outrageously vicious?) need to keep looking over their shoulder because Anaal Nathrakh are quickly gaining on them in the live face removal stakes.Rewinding time slightly, I last saw A.N. a few years ago at the Damnation Festival in Leeds and after having some quality banter with one half of the band's driving force, ginger guitar man and all round ace bloke Mick Kenny (other half being vocalist Dave Cunt) about various things like the scene at the time, his project Exploder's debut album it went on, they then went on to establish themselves as an immense live act within the black/grind/death metal field. Fast forward to Manchester's Moho in February 2010 and they have just cemented their place in my 'live bands you simply must see' file.
 
Supporting Sweden's Marduk isn’t an easy ride for many bands as Marduk are well oiled veterans of the European Black Metal scene, however when the chaotic DVD comes one as Anaal Nathrakh's backdrop, the lights dim and the stage gets engulfed in white smoke, the Moho's very healthy crowd (the biggest I've seen) turn up the volume to welcome Birmingham's Satanachists and what a reception they gave them.
 
Kicking off with the title track of their last album 'In the Constellation of the Black Widow', these five guys then proceeded to absolutely annihilate everything in their wake. Creating the perfect mix of inner rage and combustible aural violence, the caustic supersonic assault that battered the ears for the next 40 odd minutes has to be experienced to be believed. Throw vocalist Dave C into the mix, who is a definite character even without the backing of the band, and you have one hell of an interesting evening.
 
Following '…Widow', the guys then destroy us further with a track off their debut album 'The Codex Necro', 'Submission is for the Weak' which then broke new records in heaviness. When all went quiet, Dave broke into a quick synopsis of a certain Austrian housepainter who rose to power and gave Germany great benefits such as building their economy, created a punctual train service for the people however his great ideas soon went slightly wrong … the narrative leading us into one of my favourite A.N. songs 'The Final Absolution', in reference to Adolf Hitler from previous album 'Hell is Empty and all the Devils are Here'.
 
There was quite a bit of faffing around between songs and if truth be told, the guys could probably have squeezed at least another song into the set if they didn’t spend so much time fannying about, however on the flipside, by way of heartfelt thanks to the crowd for their efforts on being at the show in the first place, how many bands have you seen place a box of beer on stage and actually invite stage divers over the barrier to claim a free bottle providing they dive back to where they came from ? That was a quality touch which provoked bodies flying over the barrier with sheer reckless abandon.
 
With the stage awash with sweaty interlopers, the band cracked on levelling the Moho with  incendiary cuts like 'The Destroying Angel', the Nietzsche inspired 'When The Lion Devours Both Dragon and Child' and 'The Oblivion Gene' complete with Dave narrating/screaming the intro of "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face… FOREVER".
 
Finishing the set with a screaming 'Pandemonic Hyperblast', Dave C splits the crowd and into the gap he disappears complete with mike, followed by axeman Mick who not wanting to miss out on any fun, put his guitar down and proceeded to defy gravity, scrambling/diving over the barrier after his pal with a massive grin on his fizog. Take That and Party!
 
Marduk simply couldn’t follow that. As well drilled and supremely slick as they are, there was literally nothing left but smoke and a seriously thinned out crowd for them to play to.My Metal Compadre told Dave before the show that Anaal Nathrakh would blow Marduk off the stage tonight, to which he seemed a little non committal and gave the 'they're all good guys so we'll see what happens' line. Post show with beers in hand, Mick was all smiles when my compadre gave him and Dave the 'I told you so' line as Marduk were in the background firing through their high velocity 'sulphur souled' set.
 
Bottom line - Marduk were good as you would expect from their pedigree; Anaal Nathrakh however are one of the most nasty and ferocious bands I've ever seen, and considering who I've seen over the last 20 years, that’s not said lightly.
 
SG