Irrumator and VITRIOL aka Anaal Nathrakh have been going at their drum machine fueled black metal insanity since 1999 and with the release of The Codex Necro the duo tore black metal a new asshole with its intense almost industrialised black metal. While The Codex Necro took levels of extremity in the genre to new heights and made Anaal Nathrakh one of the most exciting bands to come out of the British underground it also gave the duo a bit of a problem. How do you follow up an album that's as extreme and The Codx Necro. The answer was found as the band instead of simply releasing sequels to their break through started to progress and add elements to their sound that was new.

Hell Is Empty continues the progression shown on last year's Eschaton with VITRIOL's (Dave Hunt) clean vocals and the slightly melodic sections in the songs but where this album scores over it's predecessor is in the black metal parts that sound so aggressive and rabid that it could have been on The Codex Necro.

Stand out tracks include the anthemic Final Absolution which has a terrific chorus with VITRIOL sounding quite like the Arcturus singer, Shatter The Empyrean which starts with some modern Exodus style riffing before going off into complete black-grind insanity and album closer Castigation And Betrayal which sees the band at it's aggressive best.

Irrumator aka Mike Kenney (from Mistress and Exploder) writes the music and his increased dabbling with other genres, most notably the manic grind of Mistress and the modern rock of Exploder, has seen those influences creep into Anaal Nathrakh's black metal sound. So this time around the listener gets the band's usual necro styled blast beat ridden black metal but with a twist of modern exodus style riffing and some metal-core chug. While that combination seems quite unpalatable on the surface, on the record it works. Also, I have to say, inclusion of metal core parts notwithstanding, this is one extremely brutal album that's not going to appeal to many Lamb Of God fans.

Special mention must be made of VITRIOL's vocal prowess. His singing, screeching and growling on this album is quite special and definitely makes the music a bit more accessible. It also feels like Mike Kenney has been listening to a bit of Arcturus as the clean vocal sections have the same layered melodic feel of Arcturus' Sham Mirrors albums.

The production is terrific on the album and gives the songs a thick layered feel that makes them sound really fucking heavy. At the same time, the complexity of the music is captured very well and while there is potential for this kind of melding and mixing of extreme metal genres to sound like an awful mess, Hell Is Empty sounds clear and quite captivating.

The duo of Mike Kenney and Dave Hunt have already released a terrific album this year with Mistress and now with the release of Hell Is Empty And All The Devils Are Here it's 2 great releases in the same damn year. Awesome stuff.

Label - Seasons Of Mist

Year - 2007