VERRAT - Like A Knife In The Back ! (Austria - HardCore/Crust/Metal - Interview with Emil).

Hello! Can you introduce yourself and tell us how it all began for you - your encounter with this musical universe, what appealed to you, what fascinated you and what made you want to get into music? 
Hi, I’m Emil, currently 26 years old and from Vienna. In VERRAT, I’m the singer, lyricist, and guitarist. Together with my old school friend Finn, I founded the band in the summer of 2018, and the two of us are mostly responsible for the creative writing process within the group.
Music has been very important to me since childhood, with punk playing a central role. Nothing has moved me more in life than the feeling of rebellion and belonging to a counterculture that punk gives me. As a child, I was a big fan of Queen—I think that was the first music I really listened to actively. My older brother later started listening to well-known German punk bands and eventually early English groups followed. After school, we would spend our pocket money on CDs and listen to them for hours. YouTube also definitely played an important role. I also started playing guitar quite intensively at the age of 10 and learned simple ’70s punk songs by bands like the Clash or the Ramones.
Looking back on my early youth, I can say that I was fascinated on by both the radical political content and the somewhat self-destructive tendencies within punk music. I engaged deeply with the punk movement, its history, and more recent developments long before I became an active part of the scene. When something fascinates you that much, it’s obvious you want to do it yourself—so I started writing songs and lyrics at around 11 or 12. I had my first band project at the age of 16…

Tell me about the band... How you met - the current line-up - past experiences - and above all - WHY the need to form THIS band?
As I mentioned earlier, VERRAT was founded in 2018. Finn, Mo (our first drummer), and I already knew each other from school and had a punk band at the time. Through the strongly politicized DIY scene in Vienna, we were quickly exposed to hardcore punk, crust, and black metal, and we wanted to start a project in that direction—that’s how VERRAT came about.
The current line-up, besides Finn and me, includes Nico on drums and Martin on bass, and has existed since early 2022. Nico is a former colleague of mine, and Martin and I have known each other from the scene for years. I’d say we complement each other well. Everyone knows what strengths they bring to the project, but also where to hold their ego back a bit. A clearly structured division of tasks also helps: Martin handles most of the booking and social media, Finn takes care of tour vehicles for example, and Nico manages our rehearsal space.
I think our 8-year band history can be divided into three phases. First, the period between founding and the start of the COVID pandemic when we mainly played locally and had to find our style. Then the lockdown phase between 2020 and 2022, which of course was difficult, but at least was used to record an EP and an LP. Currently, we’re in the third phase, which began in spring 2022: we’re touring a lot and released our second LP last year. In my opinion, we finally found our style recording our first record back in 2021 but reached a new level both lyrically and musically at our latest album.
Of course, a lot has changed over the years. But the reason this band exists has remained mostly the same: crust, positioned between punk and metal, is the perfect form of expression to convey both dark, depressive moods and anger about current political conditions. Since we all connect with that dynamic and can agree on fundamental political values, it’s important that VERRAT exists.

Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ?
VERRAT’s sound is a mix of crust, death- and black metal. I think we manage to combine different influences well without losing the core elements—namely speed and this uncompromising nature that defines good crust-punk. At the same time, there’s a certain heaviness and drama in our music, reinforced by my very deep vocals and Martins black metal screams.
Nobody has to listen to our music at all costs—that’s not our approach. But if you’re into a modern mix of crust and metal with a distinctive HM-2 guitar sound, I can definitely recommend checking us out.

Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences ? How important are the lyrics for you ? Are there any specific messages or thoughts you try to develop and share through your lyrics ? 
As I mentioned earlier, I was heavily politicized through punk music. So lyrics are very important to me—not only to criticize political conditions but also to express my own emotions. German punk bands with political to melancholic lyrics had a strong influence on me—bands like Fahnenflucht or Fliehende Stürme. When it comes to crust the uncompromising criticism of bands like Tragedy also inspired me a lot.
In general, I write very much from my own perspective and use songwriting as a kind of therapeutic method. This works especially well with personal topics, but I think social and political themes often become more interesting when approached on a personal or metaphorical level.

About the band's discography) ... Imagine someone who doesn't know your band at all and wants to get interested in.. Which release would you recommend to start with, and why? 
In 2021, we released the now sold-out EP “Abgebrannt”. I think it has strong moments, but I’m not fully satisfied with the sound and production—we hadn’t quite found our style yet.
Our 2022 LP “Zeiten der Leere” (also sold out) already sounds much more powerful, aggressive, and lively. Then, as I already mentioned above, we released our latest album last autumn.  I think both full-length records give an authentic picture of our style, though the newest one is probably a bit more refined. But which one is better ultimately comes down to personal taste.

About your latest release?  
“Das Credo der Angst” was recorded in summer 2024 at DOOM STUDIO in Linz and also mixed there in the following months. It was mastered by Role from DIE TONMEISTEREI, and the artwork was created by Austrian artist Tom Gasperlmaier.
The album deals with the dark social and political developments of recent years, but also includes personal songs. There are also two English-language tracks, “Spinning in Circles” and “Disguised as Love.” This time, however, the focus was clearly on German lyrics, where we also try to comment on specifically Austrian themes and phenomena.
The artwork symbolizes fear and danger in a society torn apart by capitalism, environmental destruction, and war. This concept is especially visible on vinyl, where it runs consistently from the front cover to the lyric sheet to the back cover. The album is also available digitally and as a green cassette. Besides our Bandcamp page, where you can also find merch, the records can be ordered through various mailorders.

Future plans?
I think the trend right now is moving toward playing festivals in the summer and being on the road a bit less during the rest of the year, but then doing proper tours instead. I’d also really love to do a tour together with another band—that would be a lot of fun and just makes sense from an organizational point of view.
In general, our goal is definitely to play more bigger club shows, while still loving the smaller DIY gigs and the exchange within the punk scene. Other than that, we also want to work on some new material this year.

Your most insane dream with the band would be ?
I’m probably too much of a realist for that question, haha… nothing too crazy comes to mind. But I definitely wouldn’t say no to a nightliner tour or playing at Hellfest someday 😉

Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ? 
I think our worst show was in a squat in Switzerland where the sound engineer was so stoned that he didn’t notice a horrible microphone feedback throughout the entire set, haha.
As highlights, I remember our opening gig for Napalm Death in 2024 and our album release show last October, both in Vienna.

Next live appearances?
We’re currently taking a short break, which if you ask me, we’ve earned after 14 shows in the first two and a half months of the year. But we’re really looking forward to the festival season this summer—details coming soon!



Some words on your local scene - bands you're friends with and you'd like to name? 
The scene in Vienna is quite active, and more young people are joining. There are many great local bands, though unfortunately only a few regularly play outside Vienna so far. Anyways, we’re friends with SIX-SCORE from Linz, THE SNUB from Graz, and TRÄGHEIT from Innsbruck just to name a few.

Last words?
Thanks for the interesting questions and for supporting young bands. Cheers! 
(Thanks for the TOP-answers and for supporting an old-man doing his best to support the scene ! - Ed.)

Credits : 
All Photos : @fabio.tography /Fabio Merstallinger