ALBUM REVIEW: Bratakus – Hagridden (Venn Records)
Bratakus are a DIY punk band formed by sisters Brèagha and Onnagh Cuinn outside the small whiskey village of Tomintoul in the Highlands back in 2015.
They were brought up in a punk rock household – their dad is Angus Quinn of influential Scottish anarcho-punk band Sedition – and they’re obviously a chip off the old block.
After releasing debut album Target Grrrl in 2017 on their own label, Screaming Babies Records (extra punk points for the Crass reference), Bratakus signed to Venn Records, run by Laurent ‘Lags’ Barnard of Gallows, for the follow-up.
It’s been a long time coming, as they originally recorded it themselves, but lost everything when their laptop failed. With The Hives bass player Johan Gustafsson producing, they started all over again, and what a follow-up it is.
Hagridden is 10 slices of raging riot grrrl punk inspired by the likes of The Distillers, The Donnas and fellow sister act Maid Of Ace. Live, they use programmed drums, but here Tommy Duffin, who produced the first album, picks up the sticks, and Bratakus sound all the better for it.
Over the course of 10 tracks the sisters rage about topics close to their hearts; feminism (Tokened), animal rights (Real Men Eat Meat) and media manipulation (Tonight).
The vocals are raw-throated, the guitars scream and the drums pound, which adds up to a very good album indeed. It kicks off with Final Girls, released as a single last year, and it sounds positively feral in places as the sisters trade lines.
Turnstile, also a single, and featuring Chris Dangerous from The Hives on drums, is next, followed by Real Men Eat Meat, which has been around a few years.
Hypocritical, the b-side of the very limited cassette single of Final Girls raises the bar, and if you go for the vinyl version the first side ends with Worth It, for me one of the album’s standout tracks.
Side two gets underway with another single, Tokened, which has a deliciously fuzzy bassline; Tonight hurtles out of the traps at breakneck speed before slowing down and then reaching a furious conclusion.
Behave is another hook-filled rager, but the grungy Drowning slows things down before Cut Us brings things to a close. I was exhausted after my first listen, but absolutely exhilarated, so pressed repeat to play Hagridden all over again, and it’s scarcely been off my music player since. Yes, it’s that good. 9/10.
