''The Whole of the Law'' is the ninth full-length studio album by British extreme metal band

Anaal Nathrakh Anaal Nathrakh are a British extreme metal band formed in 1999 in Birmingham by multi-instrumentalist Mick Kenney and vocalist Dave Hunt. They are currently signed to Metal Blade Records. The band's name is Irish for ''snake's breath'' ( anál ...

. It was released on 28 October 2016 on

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distrib ...

Background

The lyrics to "Depravity Favours the Bold" are based on Au Lecteur (To the Reader), a poem by

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...

. The song title "...So We Can Die Happy" comes from an interview with a young Syrian boy in which he said ‘If they want to use chemical weapons on us, they should just get on with it. But can they make them smell of bread so at least we can die happy?’ The album cover is a cropped and blackened version of the painting,

Dante and Virgil ''Dante and Virgil'' is an 1850 oil on canvas painting by the French academic painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau. It is on display at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The painting depicts a scene from Dante's ''Divine Comedy'', which narrates a jour ...

, by

William-Adolphe Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

Track listing

Personnel

Anaal Nathrakh

* Dave Hunt (a.k.a. V.I.T.R.I.O.L.) – vocals *

Mick Kenney Mick Kenney (born 18 January 1980) is a British musician and record producer. He gained popularity as the lead guitarist of the extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh, for which he performs under the stage name Irrumator. Career Kenney studied Il ...

(a.k.a. Irrumator) – guitar, bass, programming, artwork, production

References

Anaal Nathrakh albums 2016 albums Metal Blade Records albums {{2010s-metal-album-stub