BUTCHER BABIES

Just a minute... this is Butcher Babies' debut full-length release? That surprises me. I'd previously been aware of this stateside crew for the past 2-3 years but have never delved further into their work other than catching the occasional track. I'd also been aware of their regular touring activities so presumed they were also a more established recording act beyond an eponymously titled 2012 EP. Apparently not. According to press blurb, this is their very first album, and a mightily impressive beast it is too. It seems this is a band who've adopted the old school approach of getting their name out there on the live circuit, building up a real-world audience, and then unleashing an album to people who might actually give a shit. Full respect to them for that, and all that touring seems to have carried forward into their recorded output as 'Goliath' is loaded with a refreshingly raw, live sounding energy. Driven by a quasi-punk, retro-thrash-fuelled aggression, and a strong dose of heavy groove, the album's a relentless exercise in metal vitality, from start to finish. Instrumentally, it's a pretty basic, no-nonsense setup of just drums, guitar and bass, although each of those elements combine in forceful unity to create hard-hitting blasts of retro-metal dynamism that is both infectious and exhilarating. Add to this the compelling growled/screamed/clean delivery of vocalists Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey (both of one-time Playboy fame), and you have a debut record that is rather fucking impressive. And, somehow, despite all of the retro-mimicry, notably through a whole load of palm-muted, idiomatically thrash riffage (Dimebag is an evident influence throughout), 'Goliath' transcends the plethora of 21st century thrash plagiarists who've been littering the scene with mediocrity during the past decade. Butcher Babies are a different beast entirely. The answer to this is in Heidi and Carla's invigorating vocal performances which elevates 'Goliath' way above its instrumentally retro sonics, and it's this that makes the album such a fresh burst of untamed metal vivacity.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Century Media

Album

GOLIATH

Review by Mark Holmes

RUNNING TIME:

42:19

RELEASE DATE:

17th Feb 2014

TRACK LISTING

1) I Smell a Massacre
2) Magnolia Blvd
3) C8H18 (Gasoline)
4) Grim Sleeper
5) Goliath
6) In Denial
7) Give Me Reason
8) The Mirror Never Lies
9) Dead Poet
10) The Deathsurround
11) Axe Wound

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

USA

"...a fresh burst of untamed metal vivacity."