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BAT
Under The Crooked Claw

Nuclear Blast (2024)
Rating: 7/10

Under The Crooked Claw is the first full-length studio outing in eight years for this Richmond, Virginia-based trio. What really turned me on to this clan was the music video I saw a few months back for the song ‘Rite For Exorcism’. The track is so damn bass heavy and the riffs so chuggy that I thought I was being transported back to 1987 for one my much loved Speed Kills compilation records.

This whole slab is like a concoction of a slower Nuclear Assault and an equally slow Bathory, but I guess when you see that the line-up features Ryan Waste (vocals and bass) and Nick Poulus (guitar) of Municipal Waste fame, it’s no real surprise this is good stuff. Bat is a marrying of straight up heavy metal and speed metal; think Motörhead for the most part but with a crossover edge. Don’t take it all too seriously though. The music video for ‘Streetbanger’ is comedy enough, but like many of the songs present it’s a rowdy affair even if rather generic.

The whole speed metal aping is very old hat now, but this is still an entertaining romp as the lads carve their way through several delights, my faves being ‘Warshock’, ‘Marauders Of Doom’ and the previously mentioned ‘Rite For Exorcism’. The horror nuances are of interest and prevent this record from being just another bang average speedball, although you will still get a more authentic feel from listening to Venom, or even Tank. However, because the bass here is so chunky you can’t help but mosh along to the musical density. ‘Battered’, ‘Revenge Of The Wolf’ and ‘Final Strike’ are such good examples of how the band fuses a Toxic Holocaust / Midnight streak of anarchy with an organic New Wave Of British Heavy Metal drive.

Rewarding (more so because of its goofy accessibility), Bat’s ravenous return is simply a fun heavy metal record boasting d-beat dangers and dripping beer from its fangs rather than blood.

Neil Arnold

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