Squidhammer’s ‘Rat Tale’ is a thrash-fuelled rebellion with teeth

If you’ve ever felt a hometown trying to shrink you into someone smaller, Squidhammer arrive with a solution: burn the cage down and roar on your way out. Their new single ‘Rat Tale’ is a feral, full-throttle exorcism of small-town gossip, dead-end expectations, and the people who panic when you decide to grow.

The Watertown metal crew, led by the explosive pairing of vocalist Ericka Nightmare and guitarist Jake “Wailin’ Wayne” Schultz, hit harder than ever on this track, which doubles as their first fully self-built production. And you can hear that freedom. This is Squidhammer unfiltered, unbothered, and absolutely unchained.

‘Rat Tale’ opens like a punch through drywall with serrated riffing straight out of the school of metal’s most ferocious guitar gods, joined by a rhythmic barrage that shifts from thrash acceleration to ironclad groove. The band fuse decades of heavy influences, but somehow still land with a voice entirely their own.

Guest vocalist Cliff Wagner appears like a phantom in the opening verses, trading venom with Nightmare before she takes the reins and fully detonates the track. Her delivery is lethal, and the call-and-response interplay gives the song an almost narrative edge.

What really sells ‘Rat Tale’ is the band’s signature dynamic shift. Just when the song threatens to come unglued, Squidhammer slide into a swampy, head-down midsection that is sludgy enough to sink into, and tight enough to snap your spine when they kick back into overdrive.

And it all comes from a DIY recording setup that includes, hilariously and perfectly, a rewired old dispatch mic slammed onto a cymbal. It shouldn’t work, but it absolutely does.

Squidhammer are carving out their own corner of modern metal, delivering something loud, defiant, and built with nothing but grit and vision. They’re not waiting for permission, and they’re not looking back.