Anaal Nathrakh

Anaal Nathrakh are an English metal band formed in 1999 who fuse industrial and grindcore elements onto an underlying black metal style. They are signed to Feto Records, which is run by Anaal Nathrakh's Mick Kenney and Shane Embury (Napalm Death/Brujeria/Lock up/Venomous Concept)

The name comes from Merlin's Charm of Making in John Boorman's Excalibur (1981). Given Michael Everson's transcription, Anaal Nathrakh means "serpent's breath".

Anaal Nathrakh are typically described as black metal, despite eschewing the aesthetic of many black metal bands, dressing in a casual manner, as opposed to the theatrical corpsepaint and spiked leather clothing traditionally favored by the black metal subculture.

The band originally started as a raw black metal band, but soon changed to blackened grindcore. Through the use of distorted samples, sound effects and programmed drums, much of their work also falls into the industrial metal category, though they use no keyboards in their work.

They do not publish their lyrics, but from the titles and information they have given in interviews, their work seems to revolve around apocalyptic themes, the nature of mortality, and misanthropy.

Anaal Nathrakh, like many black metal bands, draw much inspiration from the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, exemplified by such song titles as "Human, All Too Fucking Human" and "Revaluation of All Values."

Band members:
Irrumator (Michael Kenney) (Frost, Mistress, Exploder, Professor Fate) - Bass, guitar, drums
V.I.T.R.I.O.L. (Dave Hunt) (Benediction, Mistress) - Vocals