REVIEW: Brat - Manslayer
BRAT's latest release, Manslayer, is a showcase of what makes the band so appealing: a true antidote to the toxic masculinity and misogyny that can often infect the heavy music scene.
BRAT are heavy, and this album hits in the way all great heavy music truly hits. They describe their sound as being 'Bimboviolence', which fits somewhere in the landscape of grindcore, power violence and general metal greatness. Their sound is an unrelenting, uncompromising onslaught of anger, passion and power. It’s as heavy as music can be, with the lyrical content matching the musical direction. It’s everything heavy music should be doing and feels welcome in the current music landscape.
The first half of the album focuses on more daily issues faced in society, but still with the darker edge that often crosses into camp the band is known for. Vocally, it’s everything you want from heavy music, brutal and textured with that trademark passion behind it. They stand toward the front of the mix but help to elevate the excellent instrumentation. Liz Selfish has really come into her own, with her own trademarked stage persona becoming even more present in the music; it’s something truly original, especially in the way the band covers issues women face, but has elements that you know and love from most excellent heavy music vocalists.
BRAT, as with all great heavy artists, are part of a lineage of everything that has come before them, and everything that influenced them has only helped to create a more cohesive band. The hardcore influence the band draws upon for this album adds some excellent breakdowns into the mix and, even when listening at home, makes it hard to resist crowd-killing. BRAT have captured the energy that a great live show has and put it into the record; there’s just something about the music that sounds alive.
It’s hard to believe that this is only their second album as the band is fully formed into a true unit of creativity. The whole album sounds like one cohesive beast of rage against patriarchal society in a way that hasn’t really been seen before. They aren’t just opening doors in heavy music that are blasting them away with their riffs; they aren’t asking for a place; they are taking the place they deserve and won’t move because some sexist idiot thinks women can’t be metal. Brat are as metal as possible, and there’s no way to deny it.
The end of the album is filled with lyrics focusing on revenge fantasies, which feel like a reaction to a lot of the violent imagery within heavy music that focuses on causing violence to women. Tracks such as Ways To Kill Your Husband and Femicidal Tendencies feature the violent imagery associated with heavy music but twist the convention on its head, giving agency to the female characters of the lyrics, which is truly refreshing to hear.
The track I Spit On His Grave is another one of the tracks that twists convention - as a parody of the film 'I Spit on Your Grave '- and gives the power back to women. Metal and wider heavy music has had an issue with misogyny for a long time, and this album is one of the most direct attacks against it. The album is dark but in a way that is rarely seen. The album also has a quality reminiscent of campy horror movies in the way the violence is extreme, but it’s serving a wider purpose beyond being typical edgy fodder.
Manslayer feels like it’s everything the heavy music world has needed for a while, pushing boundaries and taking on the issues of the heavy music scene. It’s a pointed rage that most people with any sense of morality will understand. A true triumph of music. Perhaps the album will lead to a Brat autumn.
Score: 9/10
Manslayer will be released on 25th September 2026 via Prosthetic Records.
Words: Will Freeman
Photos: V Valadez
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