MANIAC BUTCHER
Masakr
Negative Existence
This kvlt Czech duo released a half-dozen full-length albums, a live album, and a handful of splits and demos in the latter half of the ’90s before packing it in at the turn of the decade. Ten years on, they’re back to put the black in metal again.
Forget the cheesy band moniker and the unintentionally hilarious self-produced video for “Co Dobré Pro Mne, Dobrým Jest” (“What’s Good for Me, That is Good”); Vlad Blasphemer and Barbarud Hrom totally deliver on the promise of “No keyboards! No female vocals! Only pure black metal!” Actually, there are keys in the opening track, “Desatero krutych zim…,” but only as an eerie atmospheric lead-in to the crushing doom riffs that start the song proper. From then it’s all full-bodied, punk-inflected, second-wave bombast in the vein of peers Darkthrone, Carpathian Forest, and Khold. But, for as much as the band honours the past, they still sound remarkably relevant, as in the unaffected melodeath touches of “Projizdka hvozdem hlubokym…” or the complex yet swingin’ riffs that drive the mid-paced “Bezbozne rouhani…” The lyrics are all in Czech and the song titles ridiculously long, but English translations are available on their website. Among the subject matter tackled are the band’s hiatus, werewolves, demons, Satan, and the glory of battle. Hails! GM 
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