Album Review: The Risen Dread - Night Hag
Reviewed by Neil Bolton
Since their formation in 2018, The Risen Dread have been a busy band, although support slots and headlining tours had to give way to the recent mess we are all in. The Irish quartet decided to allocate time to finishing off their album 'Night Hag', recording it at the JSR studio in Belfast .
Produced and mastered by the band, 'Night Hag' is a concept album dealing with the subject of mental illness. All tracks on this album zone in on a particular illness, or a historical figure that suffered from multiple disorders.
The opening track 'Psychoses' has an eerie intro leading into the music itself. The tune blasts into the fore with the vocals sitting perfectly in the mix. Screaming, growling, vocals flow with the impressively talented band. Behind the mike Marco Feltrin has a talent to create several vocal sounds with this music that all fit perfectly with the tune and the subject of the song.
Further in the album 'Bury Me' has a fast aggressive drum sound created by Colom Cleary, which leads to the vocals once more spitting in your face. A bouncy feel lives along side the aggression making this track a prospective live favourite. Mat Maher’s bass work is also a stand out, with tracks like 'Sound of the Unknown' having a chunky bass sound that sometimes sits back, sometimes it crushing at the front. Guitar wise William Riberio has a similar skill set both riffing and licking his way through the metal on show. He has no fear of a solo that is both restrained and nasty.
The bands first single 'White Night' was debuted on Kerrang! Radio and features non other than the metal God Andreas Kisser. It's another quality tune with a well mixed and powerful punch to rock any head back and forth. The Brazilian link continues in the final track that features Brazilian composer Renato Zanuto. This monster has a different feel to it, obviously due to the collaboration with a composer who also worked with Seputura on the recent 'Quadra'.
There is a lot for any metal fan to get their teeth stuck into with this impressive release and the fact that this is self produced by the band makes 'Night Hag' all the more impressive.
