Plaag - UGH!

Grab your bike, your beer, and your inverted cross boys!!!

95%


Black n'Roll.

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. This dude take the whole rocky black metal to a new level.

Plaag is different. It is a one-man black metal act from a guy that is known as "Somber". He decided to give his own twist in the genre by including some rock n'roll guitars, punk drumming, and lyrical content that is not common in the overly serious genre that is black metal. Haven't seen a twist so interesting to the black metal genre since Lifelover decided to include some indie rock in their depressive black metal.

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, 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 that are more akin to party hard and drink heavy, than to be still, lamenting for Humanity's tragic existence. And yes, that simplicity is clearly intentional, and pulled off brilliantly 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 the second track "My Satan" that feels like it is some nod to the stereotype "satanical 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 he creates 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.

Listening to this album made me smile. I seriously hope these dudes start to do live gigs, because this would work so well on stage, for a black metal act, they can really set this party up!

Band related links:

http://plaag.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/PLAAGofficial
http://myspace.com/somber_Plaag
http://www.plaag.net/
http://plaag.misantrof.net/


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