Blackrat - Dread Reverence

Blackrat

Dread Reverence

by Kyle Scott at 28 November 2018, 2:01 PM

BLACKRAT rises from their dark catacombs, ready to unveil their latest dark creation. Dread Reverence is their third full-length album that packs a mind-pummeling sound that most Thrash bands only dream about. BLACKRAT call themselves 'Blackened' Thrash metal, which may just be a term meaning they recorded with anything they could find. And while the raw sound is undoubtedly harsh, BLACKRAT knows that. And they take full advantage of your ears that have no idea what is coming.

"Into the Ebony" is a gibbering mad bacchanal of disturbing, off-kilter riffs, babbling vocals amid drums pounding against your head. The song takes a sharp but brief detour into Speed Metal territory with plenty of harpy screams to spare. "Lust to Burn" features all manner of sleaze fed into a set of broken speakers. BLACKRAT are loyal to "The Old Gods", meaning they are inspired by the OGs of Thrash such as KREATOR, VENOM, and SODOM. And their loyalty stems to include some of the original Black Metal bands like BATHORY and DARKTHRONE. BLACKRAT shows their respect for the ones that laid the path for them by combining the two genres into a raging thing of abominable beauty. With so much filth and grime in their sound and style, the obvious creature they unanimously picked to represent them as a band was a devil rat with horns. Sidestepping the usual evil goat or cat or the ever-popular snake when it comes to Satanic imagery. Rats live and breed in filth so it was an obvious choice.

Songs like "Coffin Rock", "Headless Countess" and "Fang of Malice" are soaked in a cocktail of vodka and cocaine; speeding headlong on roads of gravel and mire. All this partying has to come down eventually and it ends with "The Sign", a low dirge in honor of the last of your sanity and possibly dignity, now dead. "Haunter of the Threshold" is the final all out party to end all parties that ends predictably in bloodshed. Dread Reverence is the long and winding road to Hell and all the fun and debauchery to be had when you follow down it.

Songwriting: 7
Originality: 8
Memorability: 8
Production: 7