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BŪTCHER “On Fowl Of Tyrant Wing”
BŪTCHER “On Fowl Of Tyrant Wing”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Weird! I just reviewed the fast traditional metal band DEMON BITCH and the shrieking high pitched vocals on it would have caused my mother to miscarry if she had heard it while pregnant. Yes, the prospect of no Dr. Mality is a terrifying one. At any rate, DEMON BITCH didn’t work at all for me. Yet here we have BÜTCHER from Belgium also playing wildly fast metal with crazy falsetto singing...and I can’t get enough of it! Somehow, as goofy as BÜTCHER is on “On Fowl of Tyrant Wing” (and with a title like that, you know it’s gotta be nuts), they hit all the right notes and emerge with a neck-breaking mix of old German speed metal and epic KING DIAMOND style steel!
Following a semi-acoustic intro that somehow avoids being a throwaway, you are tossed into a violent whirlpool of battery acid with “Speed Metal Samurai”. Lawd Amighty, this here is IRON ANGEL mid-80’s speed-thrash from the jump, with R. Hellshrieker trying his best to live up to his ridiculous name. This guy sounds like he’s doing coke with the Devil...full of manic shrieks, raspy roars, nut-busting falsettos like KING meeting John Cyriis of AGENT STEEL and even some operatic clean vocals. Where Logon of DEMON BITCH just sounds annoying, Hellshrieker is more the type of dude you’d like to party with at a shindig where nuns are being guillotined.
BÚTCHER then dial it up even more with “Blessed By The Blade” where the guitarists let rip with sizzling solos while warpspeed riffs tear the flesh. Is it speed metal? Is it thrash? Only their exorcist knows for sure! And with all the goofy deviltry going on, there’s black metal touches as well. “Koraktor’s Iron Rule”eases up just a tad on the gas and sounds rather medieval before “Keep The Steele Burning Hot” goes utterly batshit with more speed metal insanity!
Strangely enough, BÚTCHER then shows they have more than these kinds of speed blasters in them. On the second half of the album, they dip into seriously EPIC territory, with three longer songs that bring bands like MANOWAR, BATHORY, MERCYFUL FATE and RUNNING WILD to mind. Any of these three tunes are worthy to going into battle with and feature some really great slower and mid-paced riffs along with typical BÚTCHER speed metal. To me, it’s almost like if IRON ANGEL or very early RUNNING WILD decided to play Viking-era BATHORY, Hellshrieker’s vocals are super diverse on these tracks and venture into clean realms.
It’s nutty and over the top and also real enjoyable. These cats are just cutting loose with whatever the hell they feel like doing and you can feel their enjoyment right along with them.
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