Louisiana metal powerhouse, BRAT, will release its new LP, ‘Manslayer‘, on September 25 via Prosthetic Records. BRAT‘s eagerly awaited sophomore album, ‘Manslayer’, was tracked at Chicago’s Bricktop Recording, produced, engineered, and mixed by Weekend Nachos’ Andy Nelson, and mastered by Brad Boatright (Deadguy, Pig Destroyer, Lathe of Heaven) with maximum weight and minimum mercy. The follow-up to BRAT‘s 2024 debut, ‘Social Grace’, ‘Manslayer’ features 17 tracks of primitive death metal, garroting thrash, and swamp-drenched hardcore for devotees of the darkest reaches of the underground. Shock-inducing album artwork by Wes Benscoter (Mortician, Slayer), hammers home Manslayer‘s macabre motif.
Today, BRAT drops the third advance track from ‘Manslayer’, the hematic “Speculum Bleed“. The snarky single arrives via a visceral video that BRAT vocalist, Liz Selfish, claims is inspired by volcanic death metal legends Cannibal Corpse. Stream the John Coglan directed video for “Speculum Bleed” below.
In sync with the September 25 release of ‘Manslayer’, BRAT will hit the road for U.S. headlining tour dates in support of the new LP. The 10-city trek will immediately follow BRAT‘s current U.S. dates with Gwar and Weedeater, kicking off on September 29 in Atlanta, GA and running through October 9 in Washington, DC with support from U.S. Bastards.
“We can’t wait to hit the U.S. with our new album, Manslayer, and introduce a new BRAT era and stage show,” exclaimed the band.
BRAT U.S. tour dates:
September 22 – Memphis, TN – Satellite Music Hall (w/ Gwar, Weedeater)
September 23 – Baton Rouge, LA – Chelsea’s Live (w/ Gwar, Weedeater)
September 29 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade (Altar) +
September 30 – Durham, NC – Stanczyks +
October 1 – Richmond, VA – Canal Club +
October 2 – Harrisburg, PA – Capitol City Music Hall +
October 3 – Troy, NY – No Fun +
October 4 – Lowell, MA – Taffeta +
October 6 – Portland, ME – Geno’s Rock Club +
October 7 – Hamden, CT – Space Ballroom +
October 8 – Brooklyn, NY – Gold Sounds +
October 9 – Washington, DC – Comet Ping Pong +
+ = support from U.S. Bastards
For a full listing of upcoming BRAT tour dates, click here.
In advance of the release of ‘Manslayer’, BRAT also drops the retaliatory new track, “Trophy Hunting“, which vocalist Liz Selfish says centers around reactive abuse.
“Trophy Hunting is a classic tale of older men seeking a trophy wife that they can control,” explains Selfish. “The video showcases the brutal aftermath of a young wife who has had enough”. Stream the video for “Trophy Hunting”, directed by John Coglan, below.
Ironically for such a violently heavy band as BRAT, a lyrical influence that helped shaped ‘Manslayer’ was country music. More specifically, BRAT vocalist Liz Selfish gleaned inspiration from its songs about women’s revenge, in which they took their power back and left the lifeless bodies of the men who wronged them in their wake. Take “Goodbye Earl” by The Chicks, “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood, or “Gunpowder & Lead” by Miranda Lambert. They were metal as hell without even trying to be.
The first warning shot in BRAT‘s counterblow brigade is the new single, “Manslayer (Hell Hath No Fury)” and its accompanying music video, also directed by Colgan. Experience “Manslayer (Hell Hath No Fury)” below.
“There’s not a lot of those tropes in death metal,” Selfish says by way of contrast, “which I think primarily is because there’s not a lot of women in that space. I thought that was a really cool perspective and I really liked the storytelling aspect of it.” In extreme music, it’s far too often been the other way around, where women end up as the corpses, not the ones holding the knives. This seed of an idea was the ideal means for BRAT to add extra dimensions to its sound, which coincided with Liz stepping up to write lyrics for the first time after guitarist and co-founder Brenner Moate had taken the reins on the group’s debut.
“It’s quite new territory for me, and it wasn’t necessarily an intentional thing initially,” Liz says. “I wrote the first song for the album, and I just loved writing, and I was like, ‘I really love doing this, and I want to do more, so I ended up writing the whole album. Brenner’s main focus is writing music – he wants to write riffs – so he wasn’t too torn up about not writing the lyrics. It was a nice passing of the torch.”
