Vrag "Hate From Hell" CD

Hate From Hell CD, released by Schattenkult Produktionen, limited to 300 copies

Vrag Moj – bass, vocals, lyrics
Aciretose – guitars
Jack Sansom – drums
Overlord – guitar, synth

Not to be confused with the Hungarian act this Australian band plays what could be called raw black metal in a wider sense. I really enjoyed their 2015 full length “Species of One” and had a bit of a rough time with the predecessor “Exile”. That being said I went back to it and it really grew on me, and with their most recent output “Hate from Hell” it was or less the same. The sound seems washed out and has a somewhat blurring character. This approach gives the music a rough and basic feeling, although the songs are not as simplistic as they might seem on the surface.
From the worship of the style’s forefathers to more experimental acts seeking to break new ground, raw black metal truly does work at its own pace outside of trends and hype and Vrag have been in the business long enough to develop their trademark sound. While staying firmly in the era of its predecessor, the flow of this album takes on a bit of its own identity, with more frequent changes beneath the dry atmosphere. Some of the songs alternate between the mid-range and upper range of the guitar over nonstop blast beats, trading tremolo riffs back and forth before dropping into laid-back sections that break up the flurried wall of sound, with the prominent guitar harmonies always providing enough atmosphere in the background.
Often the melodies seem barely audible beneath the cold and harsh wall of sound, but what shimmers through is truly engaging. The music echoes through cold, stone corridors, with the riffs and drums ever slightly giving way to the vocals, which sound like the maniacal screams of someone who is receiving some kind of torture treatment in a dusty cellar room. The drumming can be a bit hectic at times, with a lot of double kick action and heavy use of the cymbals, but in the groovier sections things seem to get more structured and help the listener to appreciate the basic ideas of the songwriting.
Even when the band slows down a little bit allowing the bass a bit of play around the picked guitar, the breaks in energy are never long, quickly breaking out in waves of intensity as the blasting drums give way to driving breakout riffs. This can get a bit tiresome in the long run, but clocking in at 37 minutes this is a nice slab of unfiltered black metal goodness like it has been done in the days of old. One of the best songs here is titled “Black Metal Has No Future Only The Past”, which might be telling something about where these lads get their inspiration from. That being said “Hate from Hell” is proving that there are still some talented bands around presenting this kind of old school black metal with enough passion and freshness, and therefore the future is safe in that respect.

Official promo video: 

Sample: