EP REVIEW: Prayers Unanswered – Lust Hag/Reaping Fields
On the surface, Montana’s LUST HAG and Washington’s REAPING FIELDS have very little in common other than their clear black metal influences. The former has, over the course of the last 18 months or so, and with a prodigious recorded output, become one of the most promising raw black netal acts to come out of the US in the last few years. The latter blends caustic black metal with hints of punk, thrash and death metal to craft something altogether more domineering and intense, though nonetheless sepulchral. But, somewhat surprisingly, the new EP that the two acts have produced, Prayers Unanswered, not only works well as a cohesive whole, but boasts more excellent music in its short 14-minute span than some bands fit onto entire albums.
The two tracks that LUST HAG bring to this EP are both visceral takes on black metal’s earlier incarnations. A Desperate Prayer is a dark and melody-driven slab of raw black metal with frenetic drums and bursts of chaotic intensity interwoven amongst slick, gothic leads and arid, tortured vocals, creating some incredibly powerful and dramatic music that takes a primordial black metal sound and makes it a lot more lively. Verulica Engulfed In Flames lurches out of the speakers at a crawling, doomy pace and has a more than subtle HELLHAMMER influence with its rumbling, domineering bassline, dancing riffs and thunderous percussion, with a few cacophonous flourishes lending it a harder, harsher edge, along with dense gutturals that cut through the mix and counterpoint the sharper shrieks really well.
REAPING FIELDS opt for a shorter, sharper, shock of an approach to songwriting on each of their three tracks, the first of which, We Ride The Night, is a fantastic piece of angular blackened thrash with biting guitar work, searing vocals and a monstrous undercurrent that runs through the whole track. Purified & True (Crucifying Time) picks up where the preceding track left off but shifts to a rabid, punky style with gnarled, distorted hooks and acidic, aggressive vocals. The meaty groove of the bass, along with a few disjointed touches, is at the heart of this offering, and it’s very hard not to get drawn into this extremely ferocious juggernaut in spite of how short it is. Trembling Like The Light In Your Eyes serves as a continuation of this bombastic and primal formula, with a greater emphasis on cavernous rhythms and a slight epic quality that makes it even more engrossing, bringing this record to a close on one of its most impactful and varied efforts.
Like a lot of the best splits, both the bands involved are brilliant in their own right, and for different reasons, and what they have created together with Prayers Unanswered feels just as effective and impactful as what features on each acts’ larger releases. Whether it’s the murky, primitive black metal of LUST HAG or the full throttle aural assault of REAPING FIELDS, it’s hard to find fault with this record. It’s rare for a record like this, especially one that’s firmly rooted within the rawer edges of black metal, to feel as momentous as this one does, but considering the calibre of bands that feature here, there should have been little doubt that Prayers Unanswered was going to be a stand out offering in its own right, serving as a great addition to the growing pantheon of two of the US’ most promising underground acts.
Rating: 8/10
Prayers Unanswered is out now via Fiadh Productions.
Follow LUST HAG and REAPING FIELDS on their respective pages on Instagram.