BUTCHER BABIES

US metallers Butcher Babies are back with their sophomore album, 'Take It Like A Man', the follow-up to 2014's 'Goliath' (or 2013 for its earlier stateside release). I described the latter as "a fresh burst of untamed metal vivacity" and that's basically what we have here, once again, on this second outing from the act fronted by the vocally formidable pairing of Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey. The two ladies are in fine voice, for both clean vocals and the duality of their aggressively snarled/growled attack. However, this is far from a vocal-centric outing for the band, despite the overwhelming urgency and impassioned power of Shepherd and Harvey's voices. Sure, these frontwomen demand your attention, whether it be through the melodic essence of their clean singing or the raw, punk attitude and death idioms of their growls and screams; however, it's all about the overall band effort here and the album's loaded with some well composed, energetically executed metal cuts that take in all kinds of retro-induced riffery from mid/up-tempo thrash, grooves, and what some might construe as metalcore elements, right through to deathed-up crescendos and passages of blackened intensity. The latter engenders many moments of affective menace that's befitting of Butcher Babies' general horror aesthetic (albeit lyrical themes deal with "the inner strength you have to find in order to pull your boots up and keep moving forward, whatever the situation may be."). At other times, that menace gives way to more of a transparent mode of composition, whereby a tune has evidently been engineered directly to maximise its impact in a live context. This is most emphatic on album opener 'Monster's Ball' with its repeated "No you can't stop moving" line in the metal-stomp of the chorus. On an album that's generally relentless and unforgiving in the heavy palette from which it draws, mid-album number, 'Thrown Away', provides three and a half minutes of calmer contemplation with a melodically infectious, down-tempo song that showcases a very different side of Butcher Babies; well, as passionate as the rest of the album, rather that passion is presented within a different context. Overall, I'd have to say 'Take It Like A Man' is something of a sideways step for Butcher Babies... although that's not necessarily a criticism. Of course, most bands will always strive to progress and improve their modes of expression, although it's important that they also maintain their previously established quality on each subsequent release. In Butcher Babies' case, particularly with a shining debut record like 'Goliath', it was always important they didn't fall foul of "second album syndrome". That, they have not. 'Take It Like A Man' is great too, and that's praise enough.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Century Media

Album

TAKE IT LIKE A MAN

Review by Mark Holmes

RUNNING TIME:

45:04

RELEASE DATE:

21st August 2015

TRACK LISTING

1) Monster's Ball
2) Igniter; 3) The Cleansing
4) The Butcher
5) Gravemaker
6) Thrown Away
7) Never Go Back
8) Marquee
9) Blood Soaked Hero
10) Dead Man Walking
11) For the Fight
12) Blonde Girls All Look the Same

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

USA

"...the album's loaded with some well composed, energetically executed metal cuts that take in all kinds of retro-induced riffery from mid/up-tempo thrash, grooves, and what some might construe as metalcore elements, right through to deathed-up crescendos and passages of blackened intensity."