Verrat Zeiten der Leere LP
VERRAT is pissed-off at the state of things. The world is falling apart, the populace is in despair, and these Austrian crust punks spend about a third of their album yelling at us about it in English and the rest in their native German tongue. This is certainly a standout recent album in the genre. The whole band operates like a furious machine, taking just enough influence from black metal guitars and death metal vocals to make their own aggressive crust punk sound. The vocalist, Emil, puts up fierce competition against the guitars and both end up winning. There is no weak point or rest break on this album as it blasts straight at you for just over half an hour before letting us reflect in terror during the meditative and desperate instrumental outro. “Jahre Dunkler Verse” and “A Toxic Whole” are tracks that especially stand out. It can be hard to tell if this album is meant to be a wake-up call or just a declaration that there’s no hope left. It will likely take more than a few listens for the listener to make their own determination.