Anorexia Nervosa
New Obscurantis Order

THE REVIEW

Furious yet subtle, wild yet elegant, cacophonous yet majestic, violent yet sensual; and I could go on describing all the aspects of this "New Obscurantis Order", the third chapter made in France by the Anorexic Neurotics, who have never been more neurotic than this. Having left behind all the indecisions and mistakes of the predecessor "Drudenhaus", which was just an (unripe) attempt to change course from the horrific and boring first album "Exile", the group now showcases a mature, clean, and determined album, unleashing what turns out to be the best chapter of their short discography.

A chapter that, as you might have noticed from the first sentence of the review, encapsulates a mountain of attributes that, although they may have almost opposite connotations, seem to work great; just listen to episodes like "Mother Anorexia": a blend of chaos and jaunty melody played and vomited at the speed of light on the stage of convulsive and bloody horror. But who are the actors? Monsieur Hreidmarr who snarls and shouts who knows what while slaughtering his throat and bashing our poor auditory system (as usual), M. Stefan Bayle, whose job is to violently play the guitar until it bleeds, M. Pierre Couquet with his sharp and tireless bass strokes, M. Nilcas Vant who relentlessly drills every single track with vibrant blast beats and, finally, the jewel in the crown Neb Xort whose task is to sadistically play with his beloved keyboards, hissing and cruel like the devil.
Some band members have improved compared to before: the drummer, first and foremost, no longer seems to be playing 10 miles away, the guitarist finally PLAYS, while before he only produced an unbearable buzzing sound that seemed to come from a mad bee trapped in the bag of a malfunctioning vacuum cleaner, and finally the singer is placed slightly more in the foreground (and thank goodness, had he been louder, he would have broken the CD player).

Overall the tracks are agile, powerful, and never predictable thanks to the precise and timely contributions of the aforementioned Xort and, not to be overlooked, the clean and theatrical vocals of Hreidmarr, who not only indulges in high-pitched screams but also in bold clean vocals in French that certainly contribute to making the song structure more varied (see "Le Portail de la Vierge" and "Chatiment de la Rose").
Other times, female vocals emerge out of nowhere ("Mother Anorexia"; "Stabat Mater Dolorosa"), sensual and I would almost say vampiric, and the result can only be positive for such a malevolent album.
Equally malevolent are the frenzied laughs at the end of the track "The Altar of Holocausts", and just as it is about to conclude and we prepare for the next martyrdom, here comes the surprise of surprises: a magnificent piece played entirely on piano titled "Hail Tyranny", which is an impeccable cover of the famous "Prelude in C# Minor" by Rachmaninov. Three wonderful minutes that pass like three seconds.

To wrap it up here, I would recommend the album to those who want to try something different from the usual Symphonic Black Metal now infested by bland bands like Cradle of Filth or the recent Dimmu Borgir. Incidentally, Hreidmarr has often been compared to Dani Filth for his frequent high-pitched screams or even to Shagrath, but I believe neither of them can reach his levels. The AN is a band that truly knows what they are doing and they demonstrate it both here and in the successor "Redemption Process". Forgive me, but five stars seem appropriate, maybe also because I feel a bit of sympathy for these five kind French gentlemen...