He is not only one of metal’s most infamous frontmen, Phil Anselmo is also one of the most prolific. He will soon unleash yet another project, recently confirming with Hellbound.ca that he is involved with a black metal band called Scour, also including members of Cattle Decapitation and Pig Destroyer, but that’s not all that he has up his sleeves.”’
A couple of hours after Superjoint’s first show on their recent tour, which just concluded at the Housecore Horror Festival in San Antonio, Phil directed me toward the back of the bus through a haze of smoke to an area where there was a laptop popped open. He played some tracks from the upcoming Philip H. Anselmo & the Illegals album, songs that are even more face-melting than what their debut offered, but he also played something else. Metraton Nganga is a death metal project that he is singing and writing for that also includes Superjoint’s Joey Gonzalez and Stephen Taylor. I’m not exactly sure what the hell that band name means, but I can assure you that the band is worth listening to if you enjoy dark, heavy music.
With eyes wide open and the enthusiasm of a 14-year-old kid listening to Altars of Madness for the first time, he moved his finger across the word document on the screen following the lyrics to the songs that he growled along to under his breath. The songs are mysterious, dark, and, from my vantage point, they are not far removed from the spirit of old Immolation and Incantation, or even Mexico’s Shub Niggurath. Metraton Nganga sounds bleak and ominous, evoking the same feelings one might have while hallucinating and staring at some dark illustrations by the likes of Hieronymus Bosch or William Blake. It’s thunderous, yet it has a distant, detached dream-like quality. It will be interesting to see how this band develops.
