Ten or so years ago if you'd have suggested to me that British filthmongers Anaal Nathrakh would become the sort of band that spat out repetitive albums for the sake of it, I'd have thought you mad. Yet the duo are now ten albums in, and the last five or so haven't progressed their sound or changed things up beyond a slightly increased focus on the electronic side of the formula. Everything I wrote in my review of 2014's Desideratum is just as applicable to A New Kind of Horror, from the over-reliance on the clean-sung choruses to the lack of inspiration. You can only scream about the impending apocalypse for so long before people start ignoring you, after all, and Anaal Nathrakh haven't changed their message of hate and fear in nearly twenty years.

Yet despite this, there's enough intensity and passion to the band's approach to blackened violence to make this album at least worth checking out. First track proper Obscene as Cancer is one of their best in years, backing horns and electronica adding much to the cacophony and VITRIOL's vocals as hateful and throat-scraping as ever. Yes, there's a clean chorus, but it has the touch of epic glory that has been missing from much of the band's latter-day material. The following The Reek of Fear focuses more on the heaviness, bursts of blackened noise contrasting well with some near-King Diamond-esque falsettos to make an interesting and distinct take on industrial black metal. Forward! rightfully got some stick on release for its near-Skrillexy deathcore vibe but it's improved a little by its album placing, the groove managing to be catchy rather than obnoxious. And Brandan Schieppati of Bleeding Through pops up on VI Coactus and does a perfectly serviceable job alongside VITRIOL.

Sadly, Anaal Nathrakh just can't keep the quality levels up, despite the album being just over half an hour long. Highlights are few; although The Apocalypse Is About You! has something like the rabid blasting fury of the band's early days, most tracks are closer to New Bethlehem/Mass Death Futures that dully repeat themselves for the sake of it. Mother of Satan is possibly the least inspired the band have ever been, the lyrics mostly being screams of "Satan!" while closer Are We Fit for Glory Yet? (The War to End Nothing) is the longest track present at just over four minutes but seems much longer, with one of the dullest clean 'epic' vocal sections I've heard from the band yet. Despite the album's ostensible concept around first World War poetry, there's only a couple of places where it's noticeably distinct from the band's usual anti-war screeds. Those newer to Anaal Nathrakh may find this more impressive overall, but those who first learnt of the band through powerful poundings like The Technogoat or Do Not Speak will find this, yet again, distinctly second-rate in comparison. Sadly forgettable, which the horrors of war should never be.