Review Summary: Add all this up and "In The Constellation of the Black Widow" is Anaal Nathrakh's most insidious and deafening album they have recorded in their career.
Anaal Nathrakh make evil music, they don't rely on outlandish song names and strange album covers to shock you. Anaal Nathrakh's cover arts have been simple and iconic in their own way. They don't need a horde of zombies and a ton of blood to send shivers ringing down you're spine (Cannibal Corpse). "In The Constellation of the Black widow" is Anaal Nathrakh's fifth record and it does nothing but fuel you're mind with more black metal ferocity. In The Constellation have changes from their previous record "Hell Is Empty and All the Devils Are Here" which are all for the better. But, "In The Constellation" isn't perfect.
This is by far Anaal Nathrakh's wildest record. When you thought "The Codex Necro" (Anaal Nathrakh's first album) was mental, this just wipes the floor with it. "In The Constellation" has the signature chainsaw-like guitars and lightning-fast drum programming and the same if not more demonical, insanely inhuman vocals V.I.T.R.I.O.L. screams out on each song. Add all this up and "In The Constellation of the Black Widow" is Anaal Nathrakh's most insidious and deafening album they have recorded in their career.
The songs are all astonishingly good,
In The Constellation of the Black Widow starts off with a person sobbing in a rainstorm and just screams maniacal insanity all the way through.
The Lucifer Effect starts of slow and has a split-second breakdown which separates the slow beginning from the harsh vocals from V.I.T.R.I.O.L halfway through the song.
More of Fire Than Bloodis probably the band's simplest song on the album. It carries the traditional verse-chorus-verse song structure very well. Basically, "In The Constellation" has songs which demonstrate a lot of differences from the previous records but as said above, not all of them are for the better.
Oil Upon The Sores of Lepersfeatures a guest vocalist from the band Repvblika, Zeitgeist Memento. To me
Oil Upon The Sores of Lepers just doesn't scratch the surface and the deep growls or the deep hollow screams throughout the song just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the album because that is mostly screaming. The guitars however beat you into submission more than any song on this record and for that reason alone,
Oil Upon The Sores of Lepers is not a bad track.
Anaal Nathrakh consists of just two people: V.I.T.R.I.O.L and Irrumator. V.I.T.R.I.O.L is capable of the deepest of growls to the highest glass-shattering screams. And make no mistake about it, V.I.T.R.I.O.L is a very talented vocalist, V.I.T.R.I.O.L does use clean vocals in songs such as
So Be It,
In The Constellation of the Black Widow and
More of Fire Than Blood. Happily he doesn't use his clean voice too much because his strengths are his screaming.
Despite V.I.T.R.I.O.L’s vocal excellence, it doesn’t by any mean shadow over the instrumental work. Irummator’s drum programming is as intensifying and fast as ever before. The instrumental work beat you into submission with pure speed than anything else. That’s not to say that the songs have no variety. The bridge on the title track hits you with wicked bass lines and pounding drums (which are actually quite slow for AN standards) before the climax of the songs kills your eardrums. There has also been some melo-death inspiration for one song on the album which is
So Be It. About halfway through the song there is a “Blinded By Fear” like riff along with twin guitar harmonies. The bridge on
Blood Eagles Carved on the Backs of Innocents would make any seasoned extreme metal fan wallow in fear. Some songs on the album are just straight up crazy like
I Am The Wrath of Gods and the Desolation of the Earth. Anaal Nathrakh show on every new release that they will try something new and it does pay off most of the time. From the constant change of speed of
The Unbearable Filth of the Soul to the bowel-churning riffs of
Terror in the Mind of God
The lyrics of Anaal Nathrakh are difficult to talk about. Not that they are crude or disgusting but because half the time you can’t understand them. Anaal Nathrakh never publish their lyrics, it is very hard to find any website which has them. Anaal Nathrakh don’t need to publish their lyrics because they are sung/screamed/growled out so amazingly that you don’t care what he is saying. When you can find the lyrics though, you know Anaal Nathrakh have a very creative and rather frightening view of the world. Their subjects appear to be: annihilation, Armageddon and misanthropy. They don’t appear to abandon those themes in their future releases.
In The Constellation of the Black Widow is an amazing record and I would say it is their best. Yes, it has problems but those are only minor such as the songs running too short and the closing track cutting off abruptly. I said it isn't perfect but 4.5 seems to low a score for something this special, therefore I'm giving it a 5. For the most part it is an excellent album. If there is an extreme metal album to listen to of 2009 despite Behemoth’s “Evangelion”, this is it.
