As you should know by now, at Batty's urging I have taken this concept outside of and beyond the walls of Metal Month, and opened it out to all genres. It seems to be going quite well for now, but in the meantime I'm still stuck in here, waiting for the third instalment of this year's attempts by comics' biggest fan to upset me. So far, he has failed miserably, however when I see the words “Industrial Metal” and “Grindcore” together (yes, I realise Burn the Priest was not grindcore now Batty) I do shiver a little. Industrial always has this kind of cold, soulless, unforgiving image that makes me think of tall buildings frowning down on me, dark skies choked with acrid fumes from belching factory chimney stacks rising up like accusing fingers, and the dance and whirl of sparks as metal is struck with metal (very apt, huh?), while faceless, silent workers enclosed in safety masks carry on their work without a glance to left or right.
This is probably the image Industrial --- be it metal, new-wave or electronic music is intended to convey; the idea of joyless, automatic, relentless sounds bearing down on you like a pile of logs falling off a timber truck as it rounds a steep curve. I feel there will be little (assuming I can make out vocals, as there are no lyric sheets I can find) in the way of songs about human emotion or connection, and more relating to darkness, death, futility and doom. Kind of like Black Metal but possibly with a slower, rougher edge? Of course, I talk through my arse: I have no idea what to expect, having experienced little if any Industrial Metal, and the fact that Batty assured me that I would find nothing at all in this album that I could like or even tolerate has me wondering if I have been a tad overconfident up to now? Perhaps he's been saving the big guns for the last attempts?
Either way, it's not like I have a choice and so we may as well get on with it.
The Codex Necro --- Anaal Nathrakh --- 2001
I'm told that the band name comes from the spell Merlin utters in the movie
Excalibur, which is a nice link back to reality before I'm dragged forcibly into the depths of Hell, but also a good excuse to delay listening to what could very well turn out to be an abomination. But time has flown, the play button has been depressed and the first harsh notes are beginning to assail my ears, so it's time to (hah!) face the music!
Okay, sort of stuttering guitar or maybe synth (this is another two-man effort, and one of them does vocals while the other plays “all instruments”, so I don't know if they use keys) then a heavy, doomy drum before hard guitar punches and slashes through as the drumroll goes crazy and the tempo fires off into the breakneck. Not sure if the singer is singing now or has just sat on a nail, but I think the former. Standard Black Metal vocal, meh. The guitar and drums are kind of a mixture of death and black; not quite sure where the industrial comes in. This is called “The supreme necrotic audnance” (not sure what an audnance is) and weirdly, there's some very melodic guitar coming through! Not the worst I've ever heard to be sure. This guy on vocals (who goes by the name, or I should say acronym of V.I.T.R.I.O.L; whether that stands for something or not I don't know, but I'm gonna call him Vit just to annoy Batty) alternates between a high-pitched screech as I already mentioned, and a growl so deep it seems to come right up from the depths of Hell. Not sure if he's making both sounds to be honest, but let's assume he is. More melodic guitar, really nice.
Have to laugh at a track called “When humanity is cancer” (reminds me of Frownland's Man is the Bastard) and it opens with confused screaming then a big roar as the guitar and drums kick back in --- I think I'll take it there are no keyboards here after all --- and looks like Donald Duck has made an entrance. Like the riff, very doomy in its way and quite catchy. Ooh, speeding up now into a thrash/speed thing and going heads-down. Now we have a sort of dark choral vocal, everything stops for one second (presumably to let ol' Vit catch his breath and maybe take a squirt of something for his throat) and we're off again. Not sure how this is going to last over more than five minutes, but to be fair, the drums have set up one bitchin' rhythm; it's really good! Now the guitar is coming in with a nice melodic line and really, like most black metal I've listened to, if I ignore the vocalist I reckon I can not only get through this, but quite enjoy it Guitar has got very almost bluesy there for a moment, then picking up again as we head into the final minute with a superb piece of shredding. Bravo! Oh, I should mention the name of the other guy in this devilish duo, shouldn't I? Goes by the handle of Irrumator. Hmm. Another word I don't think exists, but you can't deny his expertise or his talent, really shines through, especially when he goes all sort of almost introspective right at the end.
And there's a great guitar line to open “Submission is for the weak” (well, duh!), another five-minuter. I am spared Vit's aching throat for almost a minute before he croaks “Down on your knees!” which is the first intelligible thing I've heard from him. Won't be getting anything else out of that though, as he's off on one again. Wait, I think I heard the words “Fu
cking slut”, which would not be out of place in a song with such a title. Ah, I need to find lyrics for this. No luck yet. Now some voice is sort of chanting, in a normal voice, possibly in Latin? Really rockin' now! Supercool. “Pandemonic hyperblast” delivers exactly what it promises, knocking you over with the screams and the hammerpunch guitar, stops for a second then goes on with the screams and hammerpunch guitar. Not a lot to this one, I'll admit. “Paradigm shift – Annihilation” does have a great riff driving it, with some really nice work going on in the background. Oh, now we have a military drumbeat with a spoken vocal. Interesting.
Oh, I'm hearing the industrial now (five tracks in!) --- sort of dark, mechanical with a hint of hopelessness, but it's quickly back to the main guitar riff luckily, and we're off again. You know, for a six minute song this is not taking forever or anything. I find myself tapping my foot to the riff as it pounds along. Still no luck with lyrics so I have no idea what Vit's singing, but it probably doesn't matter. He hates humanity, I think, so it's probably mostly a variation of that. Irrumator is really the star here though: the dude can certainly play, and not just torture frets. Speaking of torture, sounds like “The technogoat” (Vote Goatfish!) starts off on the sounds of someone being tormented, then someone says something but I can't catch it and we're off and running again. Once more, superb guitar riffs and great melodies leaking through. Vit in the meantime is back to that bass guttural growl, then screaming his head off like a girl, but it all slows down to a real doom pace in the third minute and starts stomping along like some demented beast seeking its prey. Some more clips I think, another scream, and we're heading to the end.
“Incipid flock” has a fu
cking incredible guitar riff to kick it off, then unexpectedly slows into an almost blues groove while Vit mutters in a dark voice in the background, before waking up and realising he's left his passport in his friend's house, and has to go there before he can catch his plane. It's gonna be a rush! Now he's muttering scratchily to himself, probably cursing the traffic, and some very English-sounding voice is saying things like “Necrophilia”. Sort of a swirling guitar line taking the tune now as Vit bangs the steering wheel and checks his watch: he'll never make that flight now! May just have to sacrifice his friend to the dread god Azrael! But wait: she's not a virgin! Well, not since last night anyway! Ah, fu
ck it, he shrugs, The Dread Dark Overlord of the Pit won't know. And fu
ck him if he does. Ignoring him, Irrumator continues to churn out some really sweet riffa
ge (copyright someone, I think Wpnfire or Mondo?) and gets into something of a boogie Sabbath groove right at the end there.
“Human all too fu
cking human” snarls Vit, as he watches his flight leave without him, and wipes the blood off his fingers. Apocalyptic guitar and drums here, pounding along. Amazing work near the end, and it bloody fades! And that takes us to the title, and closing track. “The Codex Necro” certainly kicks off with an ominous ringing guitar riff, then there's either a really strained vocal or a steam engine is pulling in, about halfway through. Bit weird. Think it's meant to signify a descent into Hell maybe? Unsure. Good though. Some voices shouting, can't make out what they're saying. The guitar keeps going over the whole thing, then in the last minute everything stops on one ringing guitar note, bells begin to toll, sounds of a gate opening, voices, screams and thunder, and I guess it's welcome to Hell folks. Oh, and a big frightened scream at the end.
Just exactly what I'm
not doing, Batty. That was beyond poor. I actually quite enjoyed that. Other than the vocals of course, but I could get through them by making funny comments about what he might be saying, so once again I leave the final word to Master Yoda.
