Our attraction to horror is visceral and undeniable. Racing pulse and sweating palms, and yet you can’t turn away. It’s shocking . . . yet also exhilarating. It’s what keeps us coming back for more, that rush of fear. Richmond, Virginia metal-punk trio BAT have been delivering their own blood-spattered horror since ascending from the underground a decade ago on a dark, leather-winged trajectory. The brainchild of MUNICPAL WASTE guitarist, Ryan Waste, BAT’s origins actually go back to 2008 when Waste and former D.R.I. drummer, and Texas native, Felix Griffin, hatched the idea of working together. “We’d see each other when I’d pass through Texas,” says Waste, “and we talked about doing a project where I played all the instruments—guitar, bass, and vocals— and he would drum. We both love Discharge and Celtic Frost and we wanted to do something real straightforward, no frills.” BAT remained a shadowy concept more than an actual band until Waste enlisted guitarist Nick Poulos from VOLTURE, the heavy metal project he’d been doing in addition to his MUNICIPAL WASTE duties. As VOLTURE ran out of steam in 2013, BAT took flight with Waste and Poulos crafting a sonic origin story that grew from the original ‘straightforward, no frills’ ethos into something rougher, darker, and laden with an approach that’s straight out of the down-and-dirty side of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. With Nick’s soaring lead playing, Ryan returned to his distorted bass roots, all rounded out by Felix’s relentless battery. Under the Crooked Claw does just that, right from the perfect mood-setting opener, “Una Torcia Illumina Il Cielo,” courtesy of Italian horror soundtrack maestro Fabio Frizzi. The brief haunting synth piece is like a measured descent into a dank crypt where the living dead erupt with in a fury in the raging ‘Vampyre Lore.’ Eleven more tales of terror follow in rapid succession with a grisly theme throughout. “I feel like the songs could be short horror stories of their own,” notes Waste of his lyrical efforts. “The first single, ‘Rite for Exorcism,’ is basically a reverse exorcism, where the girl is accepting the demon into her and she turns it on the preacher. Evil wins in this case.” And as for any suggestion that BAT is a “side project” for Waste and Poulos, Waste is having none of that. “It’s not just a side project,” he states definitively. “Everything I do is full force and this no different. There’s so much more we want to do with it.”