Red Right Hand of Plague is one of Portland’s most violently idiosyncratic raw Black Metal entities, a one‑person project shaped by the feverish, ritualistic vision of Arbitress Moon (also maintainer of Elf Eggs), whose work fuses Black Metal extremity with the convulsive energy of Grindcore and Bestial War Metal.
Red Right Hand of Plague emerged from Portland’s underground in the early 2020s, a scene already known for abrasive, outsider Black Metal acts. Arbitress Moon’s earliest recordings, including the ‘His Womb’ demo, established a sound defined by raw production, convulsing riffs, and a grotesque spiritual atmosphere. Even at this stage, Rrhop stood apart: the music wasn’t simply ‘raw’ but deranged, shaped by unstable rhythms, sudden tonal ruptures, and vocals that felt more like ritual possession than performance.
The project’s name reflects its aesthetic: plague, spiritual mutilation, and ecstatic violence as recurring thematic pillars. An interesting name taken from ‘Paradise Lost’ by John Milton. God’s hand of vengeance.
Red Right Hand of Plague’s ‘Transgress. Scar. Numen’ (2025) is a feral, sensory‑shredding debut full‑length that pushes the project’s raw Black Metal/Grindcore hybrid into a sharper, more violently Black Metal‑leaning form. Two substantial reviews exist, each highlighting different facets of its extremity and evolution.
A delirious, abrasive, high‑velocity assault where raw Black Metal eclipses the earlier Grindcore influence, sharpening the project’s sound into something harsher, more deranged, and more ceremonial.
‘Transgress. Scar. Numen’ is the moment where Red Right Hand of Plague fully mutates. The Grindcore remnants become vestigial; what remains is a jagged, feverish Black Metal delirium that feels ritualistic, diseased, and unstable. The album’s structure, oscillating between blast‑driven mania, martial rhythms, grotesque vocal contortions, and eerie ambient interludes, creates a narrative of spiritual mutilation and ecstatic violence.
The production is intentionally abrasive: guitars slice rather than roar, drums shift unpredictably, and the low‑end detonates like subterranean bombs. The pacing is breathless, giving the album a War Metal‑adjacent ferocity without falling into monotony. Instead, it feels like a series of psychic ruptures, each track a different angle of madness. The music constantly evolves rapidly without losing its diseased core identity.
Fans of Tetragrammacide, Antediluvian, Nyogthaeblisz, Revenge, Archgoat, Teitanblood, Proclamation and similar War Metal mongers need to check out this Red Right Hand of Plague.
