• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

September 2023

• Rockett Love: Galactic Circus
• Kerrigan: Bloodmoon
• Taz: Shipwrecked, Vol 2
• Taz: Wake Up & Sweat, Vol 1
• Ronnie Romero: Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters
• The Flower Kings: Look At You Now
• Vega: Battlelines
• Blackbird Angels: Solsorte
• Primal Fear: Code Red
• Eclipse: Megalomanium
• Seventh Wonder: Mercy Falls (Reissue 2008/2023)
• Seventh Wonder: The Great Escape (Reissue 2010/2023)

August 2023

• Hurricane: Reconnected
• U.D.O.: Touchdown
• Streetlight: Ignition
• Sarayasign: The Lion's Road
• Neal Morse: The Dreamer - Joseph - Part One
• Rian: Wings
• Icon Of Sin: Legends
• Lancer: Tempest
• King Kobra: We Are Warriors
• Dark Sky: Signs Of The Time
• Hell In The Club: F.U.B.A.R.
• Kent Hilli: Nothing Left To Lose

July 2023

• Turkish Delight: Volume Two
• Winterstorm: Everfrost
• Scream Maker: Land Of Fire
• James Robledo: Broken Soul
• Houston: Relaunch III
• All For Metal: Legends
• Withering Scorn: Prophets Of Demise
• Bloodbound: Tales From The North
• Kikimora: For A Broken Dime
• Degreed: Public Address

June 2023

• Night Legion: Fight Or Fall
• Midnite City: In At The Deep End
• Pyramaze: Bloodlines
• Shakra: Invincible
• Vypera: Race Of Time
• Stardust: Kingdom Of Illusion
• Pride Of Lions: Dream Higher
• Joel Hoekstra's 13: Crash Of Life
• The Defiants: Drive
• Ray Alder: II
• Art Nation: Inception
• False Memories: Hybrid Ego System

[ More Music Reviews ]

Butcher: Welcome to the Night

(Classic) Heavy Metal

3.0/5.0

Inferno Records
www.myspace.com/butcherusa
www.butcherusa.com
By Craig Hartranft,  12.12.2010

Figuring out Butcher's Welcome to the Night, their first release in 14 years, is nearly an exercise in futility. Practicing classic Americanized NWOBHM, Butcher shoots themselves in the foot with a menagerie of nonsense infecting an otherwise good classic heavy metal outing.

There's 26 tracks on this album, but finding the metal is a challenge. Hint: it's mostly at the end. Thirteen segments on Welcome to the Night consist of strange, and unnecessarily superfluous, parodies of radio promos, commercials and Emergency Broadcast System warnings. What the hell? It's an amazing waste of time. Additionally the album cover art is ridiculous. Words fail me here: gross, stupid, preposterous, ugly, or contrived. I guess they were thinking, 'We need a 'metal' album cover,' and this was their first best attempt. It's crap.

Fortunately, when you do get to the metal, you discover that Butcher knows their craft. Battleaxe, Wreck N Ball, and Halloween are excellent examples of primal and fundamental metal, the metal upon which all current metal is built. Vocals are shared between the female vocals of Lil Tang and founder Stone Age, and both are pure metal strong. The production is vibrant and clear often showcasing the individual contributions like the bass line on Gates of Hell.

Bottom line: listen to Butcher's Welcome to the Night for the traditional heavy metal and forget all the other worthless bullshit within. You might be impressed. Butcher would have had a better chance if they would have published the songs on a single album and not all the other crap.

Bottom line: listen to Butcher's Welcome to the Night for the traditional heavy metal and forget all the other worthless bullshit within. You might be impressed.

Alphabetical Index

Formed in 1999 by singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Erik Martensson, Sweden's Eclipse is well into their third decade of making music. In the recent past, their recordings and reputation have ... [ Read More ]