DESCRIPTION:
Band: Blackrat

Album: Hail To Hades
Year: May, 2016
Genre: Black Metal D-Beat Metal Punk Speed Metal Thrash Metal Witch Metal
Country: Calgary, Canada
Label: Vulkan Records
Line-up: Stu Loughlin - Bass/Vocals, Ian Lemke - Guitars/Vocals, Russell Shanahan - Drums

" Infesting the fetid basements and lamp-lit alleyways of Calgary, Alberta since mid-2012, the omnivorous trio known as BlackRat has managed to carve out a pretty comfortable niche for themselves in the bowels of Calgary’s underground metal scene.
Hail to Hades, chiefly dedicated to those ‘80s metal pioneers who explored the “concept of evil music when it was new!” Pursuing support for their latest collection of visceral tunes, the threesome found an ally in Regina-based label/distro hub No Sanctuary Records, who are “dedicated to preserving and spreading the noise of old school from underground, like punk & metal through vinyl and cassette format.”
“This whole album was written by the end of summer 2014 and we were supposed to record it that October. But then, one fateful night, we were getting drunk in the graveyard, which we do, because we’re idiots,” Lemke begins.
“And, we were on our way to a house party at a friend’s house. And I wanted to impress Ian and Stu with some sweet moves,” says Rust picking up the rat-tale of woe. “I ended up falling four to six metres over the rail at the Bridgeland C-Train station and fracturing my skull. It was a bummer. I also lost the hearing in my right ear. So, that’s been an interesting change. But, I’m still alive so that’s awesome. I had to relearn a little bit and take speech therapy. It was interesting jamming for first time. I’d get headaches; have to stop. I’d get dizzy and almost pass out while playing. It was a weird, but the funny thing is I think I got better at drums.”
An astrophysicist, Rust recorded the drum tracks for Hail to Hades under the largest dome at the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.The remainder was recorded at Lemke and Locklin’s homes; the album was captured by Luis Ergon. In the end, he’d contribute his life’s blood before the project was to see the light of day.
“We didn’t think this was ever going to happen. That we’d ever make this album,” says Lemke. “If you look on the album insert there’s this very blurry, barely visible image and it’s Russell’s face when he was unconscious after he fell. We figured he probably want a picture of how fucked up his head was. At the time we didn’t know how serious his injury was. It was fucked. Medically, he should have died.”
Remarkably, a couple of return-shows later and the hard-to-kill Blackrat, Rust, was “back up to snuff.” Suddenly, Hail to Hades had a future and a significance not lost on its close-knit conspirators."

- Interview by Christine Leonard to Beatroute in 10/May/2016

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"The follow up record ‘Hail to Hades’, continues to helm the thrashy, fun nature of it’s predecessor, while also paying heed to musical evolution. The album is a rollicking mix of black metal and crust punk, but this time, with a little more emphasis on the black metal side of the mix[...]The experimentation only adds a dynamic quality to the album, with atmospheric elements and black metal exploration enhancing the variety of the record [...] It is good to see a band evolve over time and in Blackrat’s case, it is no different. The band’s improved song writing abilities make them stand out from the traditional blackened crust crowd and ‘Hail to Hades’ is a highlight in this style. The album does a good job of easing the listener into the shifts in sound and it also makes one eager to find out where the band will go next. Blackrat is a force to be reckoned with and this is a band that one should watch out for."
"The album kicks off with a sense of familiarity as the thrashy riffs of Madness Spell ring out in a feedback drenched intro. The crusty black thrash riffs are vicious as ever and the grimy snarls of the vocalist carry the same blasphemous tone from the debut. Amidst all the hyper fast, pedal to the metal thrashing, Blackrat shift direction towards the middle of the song into a ritualistic section with tribal beats and a eerie, dissonant lead section as the bass maintains a steady groove."

- By Shrivatsan R. to Transcending Obscurity - Online Magazine


Facebook: blackratattack

Bandcamp: blackrat.bandcamp.com

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