Plaag "Ugh!" CD

Limited to 250 copies. A Belgian / Norwegian anti-religious collaboration through sarcastic blackened rock 'n roll!
Ugh the fucking world!!!!

Never in my life I was happy for having something that I didn't even knew I wanted it.
Okay, this up there may be one hell of a hyperbole, but truth is that I always loved when black metal bands implement rock influenced riffs and rhythms into their song writing. Darkthrone did it. And so did Carpathian Forest, and even Craft. his dudes take the whole rocky black metal to a new level.
The opener starts strong, with a cool guitar shred and then blast into the galloping track "Somber's Out". It is both raw, vicious and catchy. One can smile with the darkness of this album. The following tracks are in the exact same form and energy, some slower, another ones with that punk-ish galloping rhythm.
The musicianship is quite solid here, you can see that there is a lot of thought behind the songs, though the lyrics are simple as rock n'roll biker tunes go. And yes, that is intentional. And brilliant as well. If people believe that black metal is supposed to be mean and gritty, this goes against such trend. This album has a lot of tongue in cheek moments as well, such as "My Satan" that feels like it is some nod to the stereotype of the "satanic worshiping themes and lyrics" that sometimes can be as hollow as this song is, though by itself, this one has that purpose. Also, who in their right mind makes a black metal song about Christmas?!

"Jingle Bells - Fucked up Bells
Torture all the way
Oh what fun it is to die
In a one horned open sleigh"

As you can see by the lyrics above, this isn't a "serious" black metal act, but the music they produce is quite serious. The guitar work, with the usage of solos, melodic scales, palm muting and galloping rhythm, and the drums that sometimes have their groove, without resorting to blastbeats, makes this band quite distinct. For how simple this may sound at first, you can see that it is a lot of work and thought behind this project.
Believe me, it's worth a listen if you are into the more rock side of black metal. You can digest this album as a whole since the pacing is so on point that, at least for me, the replay button gets seriously raped.

Sample: