Band: ANAAL NATHRAKH
Country of origin:
Great Britain
Style: black fucking
metal!
Questions by:
Kai Mathias Stalhammar
Answers supplied
by: V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
“Total Fucking Necro”, the first album of yours, was released by Leviaphonic Records; the second one, “Codex Necro”, - via Mordgrimm. Do you purposely maintain collaboration strictly with “below the underground” record companies?
- I think many bands
might, but no, not really us. We are concerned most of all with what
the label is about, and whether we feel ANAAL NATHRAKH is compatible with
them. In the case of Mordgrimm, the label boss has been a necro freak
for years, and he said he wanted to make the label 100% underground, harsh
black metal. That's fine with us. If there was a huge label
offering us millions of pounds that was owned and run by people with the
same kind of necro spirit, that would be fine too. The only thing
we care about is that we do not compromise - no matter how much money anyone
ever gives us, the only music we will make is filthy black fucking
necro puke.
Haven’t
you ever thought of submitting your works to a wider audience, thus becoming
less underground act? I mean, do you think there’re many people who not
even gave a listen either to “Total Fucking Necro” or “Codex Necro” but
just heard briefly ABOUT your band…?
- It depends what you mean by a bigger audience. The idea of getting a record deal with distribution is so that people who want to hear the music can hear it. Further than that, no. We couldn't give a fuck about money, and we couldn't give a fuck about making people understand our message. If people want to hear our stuff, then we would hope to make it available to them. If other people don't, fuck them.
Buy the way, if proceeding with this subject, what is underground (community) to you? Do you imply anything definite with this notion?
- Not really.
I think underground is just a word given to stuff that's not commercial,
or not good enough to make it out of the underground. There are some
good people out there in the underground with good minds who work hard.
There are just as many assholes who think that by using the word underground
they gain some kind of respectability. They don't. An asshole
who tape trades, is in a band with a name it's almost impossible to say,
and loves horror films... is still an asshole in the end. I once
read someone saying this: 'It is my experience that there are three kinds
of people. Those who are defined by the organization to which they belong,
those who define the organizations they join, and those who couldn't care
less.' I
think that can be
applied to the underground, and ANAAL NATHRAKH probably falls into the
last category. Necro walks its own path through the grimy mists.
As both Leviaphonic and Mordgrimm appear to be the labels that are way below small, wouldn’t it be better to release ANAAL NATHRAKH works on your own? At least, handling everything yourselves sometimes turns out to be a bit more safe… I mean, this way you obtain control over every single aspect of distribution, sales, trades whatsoever…
- It comes down to money. To manufacture and sell an album is simply too expensive for us. We are not rich. It seems the best way of proceeding if you haven't got money is to get someone else to spend their money for you... Mordgrimm is a small label, but so far here in the UK, the promotion and distribution has been good. Distribution for other places has been slow to arrive, but I believe it will. We would like to maintain control of everything. I hate being dependent on anyone else, especially for ANAAL NATHRAKH. But as long as Mordgrimm can deliver what's needed, we will get on with them ok. We will see what the future holds.
“Total Fucking Necro” is comprised of two demo efforts. Which ones were these, and how many have you sold before Leviaphonic came up with a re-issue?
- There were our only
two demos, the first had no name, the second was called "Total Fucking
Necro". I have no idea how many Leviaphonic sold. The arrangement
we had with them was that they would just make and sell CDs independently
of us. There was no contract, and no royalties. Like I said,
we don't give a fuck about money, and getting Leviaphonic to make and
sell CDs meant the
music would get out into the world. And it did, our plague spread
all over the place.
“No
life, no future, no mosh, no core. Fuck everything”. Is this what you REALLY
stand for, I mean apart from being involved in a band?
- That is basically nihilism. Nihilism is at the core of virtually everything we do in some way or another. It is a subtle beast at times, but it is forever there, like the filthy oil of pure vile black necro that streams from our guitar strings and our fingers.
“Satanarchrist”, “The Technogoat”, “Lethal, D.I.A.B.O.L.I.C.”, “Necrodeath”… Are the lyrics as violent as the song titles are? Do they have any (important) meaning, or are they a mere verbiage supposedly being only an addition to overall “utter necro” image and sound?
- We do not discuss the details of our lyrics. Suffice to say, yes, they are extremely fucking violent and no, they are not mere verbiage. Anyone who thinks they are could not be more wrong. It is advisable for people to leave our lyrics well alone.
You covered MAYHEM’s “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”. May I know why?
- Because we like it.
Usually, if one
happens to cover any song by MAYHEM, this “one” takes
“Deathcrush”,
obviously one of the worst tunes Euronymous and co. ever
managed to compose.
Why don’t they pick up tracks off “De Mysteriis…”, huh?
- I think the OPHTHALAMIA version of "Deathcrush" was good because it picked up on the rabid spirit in the song instead of trying to make it sound more sophisticated that it originally was (eg not very sophisticated at all). Other than that, I don't know. It is obvious in most dealings with most people that the vast majority of them are stupid. "Deathcrush" is just a badly written punk song. It's cool because of what it is and what it represents, the atmosphere of it, but as a song there is better MAYHEM material for covers.
What’s your attitude to modernday’s MAYHEM, as well as the following CDs in particular: “Wolf’s Lair Abyss” and “Grand Declaration Of War”?
- "Wolf's Lair Abyss" is pretty good. "Ancient Skin" certainly has the 'Mayhem feeling', especially the older version before the one that's on the EP. "Grand Declaration..." has good parts, but is simply not brutal enough for me in general. Some of it has a fearsome coldness to it though, the fast parts.
Do you think MAYHEM played a significant role in the uprising of black metal in early nineties? I mean, as a BAND. The musical side.
- Yes, I do. The DMDS album was a milestone, and I still don't think there's virtually anything else that captures that same feeling so well. I know what you mean - was Euronymous more important without a guitar in his hand, and maybe he was - but yes, the music was important even if only because it was difficult to get hold of the "Deathcrush" music before the reissue, it all added.
ANAAL NATHRAKH
is one of the most violent BM acts I’ve heard lately…
Nonono, let’s
put it this way: “ANAAL NATHRAKH is one of the most violent BM acts I’ve
got myself acquainted with during past five-six years”. In my opinion,
this is how true black metal should sound like – not some fucking 1-chord
buzz played by a couple of teens or a couple of 30-years old brainless
scumfucks. Are there any bands delivering no less violent music simultaneously
being true to their beliefs that you know of?
- There are various
people in the underground that we get compared to that I have little knowledge
of - TSJUDER for example. So maybe they are similar. I've never
heard them. I don't think there are many other people who have such
a pure vision of what they are doing as us. We conceive pure, utter
necro, and we bring it down into music. Only we know exactly what
we are doing, and
I think that is quite rare.
Since
you’re coming from Great Britain, I’m going to ask whether you’re one of
those despising CRADLE OF FILTH or not…
- Poser faggot pop music bollocks.
By the way: don’t you think that accusing those few (black metal acts) who have already managed to reach a certain popularity as well as commercial success, whose name is widely spread, in anything your imagination might tell you, is beyond any sense? (this question doesn’t regard CoF as they don’t play black metal) I believe that handling the antichristian propaganda and purposeful assault on social morality as well as the Church institutes, whilst sitting in some fucking cellar with no one around knowing what and who you are, isn’t the right path to go.
- 'Handling the antichristian
propaganda'? That is an agenda which we do not have. Go ahead,
hate christians, despise their transgressions against humanity as a disease
of the spirit that may never heal. But don't bother us with it.
We couldn't give a fuck. We would much rather just be left alone.
The vast majority of people are too fucking stupid to understand what cause
they're fighting for, much less fight for it in the best way they can -
be that from a lonely cellar or from the political platform. We make
music, we're not trying to make anyone believe anything. Maintaining
a purposeful assault on societal norms and accepted practices, attempting
to erase the damage of thousands of years of guilt ridden shit, trying
to work
towards bringing
down institutionalised symbols of moral corruption - all this stuff is
based on a belief that things could be better if they were organised differently.
It is a destructive way of expressing hope - it is basically saying 'If
there were no religion, things would be better, so I will attack religion'
and so on. All of this is based on a hope that ANAAL NATHRAKH does
not share. Everything is fucked, there is no hope of redemption,
there is no silver lining inside the stormclouds, there is no purpose for
the violence, there is no goal that can be achieved. There is only
the violence itself, only the cold fact of the storm. When the spirit
of necro descends, there is no intention to select targets, no calculated
aim, there is only UTTER FUCKING NECRO.
What’s your view
on this so-called “second wave of black metal” from
Norway represented
with either musically rather extreme acts like CARPE
TENEBRUM, TROLL,
TARTAROS and FORLORN or lame pseudo-artistic-pseudo- industrial-pseudo-noise-delivering
bands such as MORGUL, RAM-ZET and PECCATUM?
- To be honest, I haven't really heard the music. Extreme music is good, arty shit is not. Truly necro music is brilliant. That should answer your question.
Getting back to Great Britain. I guess you must have noticed that those born in USA and even in England… well, their English’s getting worse and worse as time’s passing by (well, mine isn’t perfect too, but it’s not my native language). I judge by how they answer interviews, how they compose lyrical canvas… and it looks like soon all of us will speak in a horrible mixture of English, Spanish and some godforsaken African language…
- You can speak my mother tongue far better than I can speak yours... Yes, I have noticed a deterioration in the use of language. If it is a case of someone not speaking very good English, but still trying to say the right things then it does not bother me. It is when people who should have some sensitivity to what the language is, and the cultural factors involved in a language, reveal themselves as stupid and unable to fucking talk or write that I get annoyed. Learn to speak properly you fucking assholes.
A
couple of typical questions for the end… What lies in store for ANAAL NATHRAKH
for the year of 2002?
- We are intending to release an EP at some point during the year. Most of it is already recorded in the catacombs of Necrodeath Studios. After that, possibly splitting the earth in two and sending it crashing into the sun. It's fucking worthless anyway. We will see how it goes.
Is there anything besides “vodka”, “Chechnya”, “Putin”, “cold winters” and “beautiful women” regarding Russia you can think of right now?
- Things that have
been reported about over here in the past few years - social unrest, a
debilitated economy, poverty, a prevalence of the black market and organised
crime - especially in drugs, tension between differing ethnic groups.
Unidentified Armed Black Metallers throwing a hand grenade into a synagogue.
The power of the Russian troops in World War 2 when they
destroyed the German
tank advance during winter because it was too cold for the machines to
function. A rich history. The birthplace of real world communism,
and the ridiculousness of the idea that people could ever be trusted not
to become corrupted monsters - when that is what we essentially are.
Have you heard any black metal acts coming from over here?
- Those you're involved with, plus RAKOTH and maybe a couple of others. I get the impression that there is quite a lot going on over there that people in my part of the world seldom hear about.
Lastly: what does “Anaal Nathrakh” mean? Sounds pretty weird, y’know.
- It is taken from an incantation to summon the Great Dragon, a virtually uncontrollable, massively destructive force.
Asking the interviewee preach these omnipresent “final words” seems to be some kind of a good ‘ol tradition, so I will be no exception. Your message for those who made themselves read this interview till the very end, is…:
- The world is fucked, and there is nothing you can do about it. Having the vanity to think you can is part of humanity, but humanity is flawed. There is no hope, there is only NECRO.
ANAAL NATHRAKH - NECRO
TO HELL!
www.geocities.com/anaalnathrakh
www.mp3.com/necrodeath
The CODEX NECRO comes...
Few - exciting,
to say the least! - facts regarding ANAAL NATHRAKH
The year of
2001
... there comes ANAAL
NATHRAKH full page feature and album review in Kerrang. "Every now and
then an album comes along that can be legitimately be called a classic.
Here's one now" - James Cooper
New compilation CD
'The History of British Black Metal' out by Godreah. Featuring BLACK SABBATH,
CRADLE OF FILTH and ANAAL NATHRAKH.
The year of
2002
ANAAL NATHRAKH's
debut album "The Codex Necro" wins Album of the Month in Terrorizer (#93)
with 9.5/10 marks, beating black metal gods EMPEROR by half a mark!!
ANAAL NATHRAKH recieve
the 'best newcomer of the year award' in the Terrorizer Magazine readers
poll. The debut album "The Codex Necro" comes in at Number 8 in the
Album of the year chart.
ANAAL NATHRAKH contact
-
Email: crushfuk@fuckyou.co.uk