Artist: Pragha
Country: United Kingdom
Label: Mystic Rites
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2026
It would be a bit too much to call it a trend, but in recent years there certainly has been a modest growth in the number of bands blending Black Metal with the aesthetics of Punk. With bands like Kūka’ilimoku and Chevallier Skrog or such acts as Nihil Invocation and Vengeance Sorcery paving the way and even getting a bit of wider attention and recognition, it is not that surprising that there’s more bands popping up. Either being influenced and inspired by others or because they finally see the momentum shifting towards something that always wanted to do.
Within the United Kingdom there’s been quite a few good bands in this particular genre and a handful of labels totally dedicated to this sort music as well. To that scene we can now also add Pragha, a one-man band from a guy who goes by the name of BF and has some other/previous experience in a couple of other bands. But, it is quite safe to conclude that Pragha is definitely his most interesting and intense effort so far.
In autumn last year Pragha debuted with a split cassette tape with Sordido from Brazil, put out by the American based Phage Tapes. Yet, now we are a couple of months further down the Black/Punk road, BF shows that he is improving his game with ‘A Morte Do Hospedeiro’. The scrawled, squiggly letters on the sleeve had already given us a hint, but anyone who appreciated the punkiest early work of Chevallier Skrog, who often used the same font, will certainly relish this first full Pragha demo tape. Most likely based on the same bareboned fundamentals of Ildjarn, Bone Awl and Akitsa, Pragha too stripped down Black Metal to its very core of Punk riffs, not so far removed from Mayhem’s ‘Deathcrush’. The raw energy and almost pristine pureness of the music is what makes it so powerful and gives this Black Metal/Punk fusion a place of its own in the Extreme Music constellation.
Even within the short time Pragha has been around, BF has already managed to impress with his new project. A superb demo!
