Butcher Babies – Goliath

American band Butcher Babies have been making a name for themselves with superb live shows on their UK tour with The Defiled, as well as on US tours with acts such as Marilyn manson and on the Rockstar energy mayhem tour.  Their early shows saw them performing topless with just nipple tape and led to accusations from some that they were just relying on their image (in fact their stage dress was a tribute to Plasmatics star Wendy O Williams).  Their debut album, Goliath, was released in the US last year but it’s only now that it’s being given a long overdue UK release.

Well if people think the band rely on their looks to hide a lack of talent, then this album, and their live shows should soon convince them otherwise.  Before hitting play I knew the band were pretty heavy but other than that I wasn’t sure what to expect.  First impressions were overwhelmingly positive, and further listens reinforced that view – so much so that I’ve already bought my copy of the album.

Vocally they are pretty unique in the metal scene (excluding symphonic metal) in having two female vocalists, Carla and Heidi.  Other bands have a single female singer and where they use a second singer it’s normally a male singer to get contrast between the vocals.  With Butcher Babies it’s two female lead singers.  There’s a mixture of clean vocals and screaming or growling vocals and it works really well.  Musically it’s heavy with some breakneck speed drumming and nice powerful guitar riffs.

There are definitely a range of influences here – Thrash metal being a major one, but there are other influences including nu-metal.  The results are loud, heavy and angry songs – just what metal should be.

An excellent album that’s well worth a listen.

Rating: 5/5

Track listing:

1. I smell a massacre
2. Magnolia Blvd
3. C8H18 (Gasoline)
4. Grim Reaper
5. Goliath
6. In denial
7. Give me reason
8. The mirror never lies
9. Dead poet
10. The Death surround
11. Axe wound