Deadline well passed, I have to think plainly, and come up with a couple of questions for myself: what heavy music happening got me excited in the last week? The new song from UK-born, 20-year-running, death/black/industrial/symphonic/grind hybrid Anaal Nathrakh. And what is something I have never done before in the column format? Write an entire column about a single song.
The first thing that struck me about ‘Forward!’ is that the band has perhaps finally embraced their moshier, chuggier side, with a machine gun sample breakdownas the introduction and repeating feature of the song. Years after establishing himself as the writer of some of the most nihilistic and relentless extreme metal ever put to hard drive, guitarist/producer Mick Kenney also found himself as a producer and writer for some of the world’s biggest metalcore bands – Motionless In White, Bleeding Through, Carnifex. While this possible influence rubbing off is obviously upsetting for some battle jacket clad purists, the band clearly does not give a shit, and the sheer nastiness of their overall static-laden tone has only intensified.
That said, ‘Forward!’ is certainly not a metalcore song, and breakdowns aren’t the only vibe being more strongly represented in their already perfect blend of half a dozen subgenres. We’ve got some dubstep here too. The band has always flirted with electronic nuances, so it’s not the first time this influence has snuck in, but it’s definitely the first time it’s been front and centre of a lead single. It’s a not-so-subtle touch that adds to the massiveness – incorporated as though it were punctuation marks, and not a gimmick. Dry your tears now child, this is “no place for cowards”. A few ‘wub wubs’ aren’t going to make the patches fall off your denim.
Anaal Nathrakh have released nine albums, and each one has felt, at most, like a slight elaboration on previously explore ideas, or, at the very least, a slightly more focused and polished version of the same ideas. However, 2016’s The Whole of The Law reached further than ever before – the band perfected it. It’s a given that this album won’t be the same song ten times over – there will be relentless blast beats and some hugely hooky symphonic choruses to come. While I am yet to hear A New Kind of Horror – album number ten – this song feels like a statement of intent towards slightly bigger steps than we’re used to hearing. Get up. “Who gives a fuck if your enemy’s starving” indeed. Be hungry for new things because it could “all be over by Christmas”. Your endless repetition is as good as death. “Forget your fear because the gun’s at your back – scream forward!”
