ANNUNAKI

It's pretty exciting to be writing the first real post for Morbid Rupture. I think that the atmosphere is just right: sitting in a pretty brisk room with one of the biggest blizzards to hit New York City in a long time. Actually, it's the perfect scenario to introduce (or re-introduce) New Jersey's Annunaki. I bet some of you are wondering, "what does Annunaki have to do with blizzards?"

Three years ago, I saw this band open for Immortal at B.B. King's to a sold-out audience. They went on right before the Blizzard Beasts themselves and I can assure you that the crowd was getting restless. However, when Annunaki went on, everyone there ate 'em up. They were that great. People still talk about that particular performance and they definitely won a number of new fans. This was one of them.

Annunaki put out their debut album, Throne of the Annunaki, in 2007 on the band's own Militia Records - a sign that this band is the real deal. Their sound can be best described as "death-thrash", with a hint of black metal. My personal favorite on the disc, "Blunt Scalpel Extraction", sums up the band quite well. Vocalist Tony Stanziano's raspy growls remind me a bit of the legendary Tomas "Tompa" Lindberg's (At the Gates, Lock Up, Disfear) and the riffs and solos brought to the table by John Blicharz are top-notch. The man can rip solos that puts the entire ESP roster to shame and can knock riffs that are, most importantly, cold, heavy and memorable - at the same time! On the other end of the sonic spectrum, cuts like "Dysphoria Delirium" and "Torture" display the band's fine ability to play a great blend of black and death metal while the title track and "March of the Militia Dead" shows the band's excellent execution of the two aforementioned styles thrown into a thrash metal tornado. Prepare to have your head BANGED!



In terms of production, they really pulled out all the stops. Throne of the Annunaki was tracked at the famous Trax East Studio and mastered by the even more famous Alan Douches. Expect the sound to be pretty clean-cut and modern, but don't worry: THE RIFFS BACK IT UP! The only complaint that I have is the length of the album, which clocks in at a little over 50 minutes. The tracks on their own stand out and shouldn't be seen as filler in any way. However, when everything is put together, it might feel like it drags on at first listen. I guess this is something to weed out the amateurs from the start. I typically like my thrash records to be a bit shorter, but every time I come back to Throne of the Annunaki I can hum back the melodies and it feels like I'm returning to familiar territory. If an album can do that to you, you know something is right.

Of course, for all of you underground freaks out there, you might recognize the drummer's name: the one and only Kevin Kuzma of the cult thrash metal legends Blood Feast. Yes, he is back and thank goodness for it. As you might have suspected, he took part in the founding of Annuanki alongside bassist Karl Odenwalder and John after the breakup of their previous band Lament.

Since that hot summer night playing with Immortal (ironic?), the band has played with countless bands legendary in their own right. To drop a few names: the Swedish Panzer Division Marduk, tech-thrash titans Believer, legendary Floridian brutes Vital Remains, masters of death from the Czech Republic-via-Chicago Master, Finnish black metal horde Horna and Norway's hellish 1349, just to name a few. Talk about impressive.



So where can you purchase this intense slab of brutality? Where can you listen to some tracks? Check the links below. After all is said and done, this band is the real fuckin' deal.

Annunaki @ MySpace
Throne of the Annunaki @ Abyss Records and CM Distro

Check out MetalKult's review of Annunaki's set with 1349 over here. Check out some photos from that show by Piercing Metal over here.