Richmond, Virginia metal-punk trio, Bat, are ringing in Hallows Eve with the perfect onslaught of horror movies and speed metal. The track "Horror Vision" is taken from the band's second full-length album, Under The Crooked Claw, available via Nuclear Blast Records.
The brainchild of Municipal Waste guitarists Ryan Waste & Nick Poulos, Bat ascended from the underground a decade ago on a dark, leather-winged trajectory. The band delivers their own blood-spattered horror leaning heavily on the dirtier side of speed metal.
The track features 20 of the 'video nasty' titles highlighted throughout the song along with other classic horror clips edited together by Jim Stramel and Ryan Waste.
Ryan Waste states, "I grew up watching horror movies at a young age, and just like with heavy metal, I became obsessed, delving deeper into the obscure. In the early 80s, UK starch conservative Mary Whitehouse spearheaded a campaign against certain films she deemed unsuitable for viewing at home and coined the term 'video nasties'. There was an initial list of 72 'obscene' films on VHS, so of course I had to hunt them down and watch all of them in reverse protest. I inserted 20 Video Nasty movie titles in the lyrics for 'Horror Vision' as a tribute to anti-censorship. In the music video, we highlight those films plus many more in the horror realm. I called upon fellow fright enthusiast Jim Stramel (BAT, Streetbanger) for his editing skills once again to create this onslaught of terror. We made sure that Mary Whitehouse not only rolls in her grave, but rocks her stiff bones down to hell with this video clip."
Watch the music video for the single "Horror Vision":
Order/stream Under The Crooked Claw at this location.
The power trio, completed by drummer Chris Marshall, decamped to Philadelphia in June 2021 where Arthur Rizk recorded the basic tracks for Under The Crooked Claw. Yavé Rust tracked lead guitars and vocals later when the band was back in Richmond, ultimately to be mixed by Rizk and mastered by Joel Grind. The artwork for the album was inked by Brandon Holt and colored by Margaret Rolicki.
Jam-packed with tight, concise songs loaded with punchy choruses and lightning-laced leads, each of the 13 tracks offers a new horror short story mixing the perfect blend of heavy metal, punk, and rock ‘n’ roll or as Waste coins it "primitive heavy speed".
Tracklisting:
“Una torcia illumina il cielo”
“Vampyre Lore”
“Rite For Exorcism”
“Streetbanger”
“Just Buried”
“Warshock”
“Horror Vision”
“Battered”
“Revenge Of The Wolf”
“Marauders Of Doom”
“Electric Warning”
“Bastardized Force”
“Final Strike”
"Revenge Of The Wolf" video:
“Streetbanger” video:
“Rite For Exorcism” video:
(Photo – Maya Kay)
