Rating: 9.6

Country: Japan

Release Date: 2006

Track list:
1 Enter the Realm of...
2 Bolt Slaughter
3 ABC Butchers Co. Ltd.
4 Vice
5 Suffer
6 Velvet of the Godless (Divine Ever cover)
Bonus tracks (unmastered)
7 Bolt Slaughter
8 ABC Butchers Co. Ltd.
9 Vice
10 Suffer

Band Website: Butcher ABC

Butcher ABC - Butchered Feast of Being

Analtoshit - Guitar/Vocals
Shaitan - Bass/Vocals
Barbequeen - Drums

From total noise-core without even song titles, to a monolith of raw power, Bolt Thrower inspired, destructive, instantly addicting death/grind of the highest class. Wow, I never saw it coming! Early recordings of Butcher ABC were your standard lo-fi, noisy, near useless burst of sonic hiccups. Not without charm, but void of any of the outstanding qualities they possess now.

2003 was the year the band had released 'Butchered at Birthday' a grinding, low end heavy tribute to brutal simplicity and with lyrical lines drawing reference from Carcass, Morbid Angel, Possessed and Slayer (well if that's not a who's who list…..). A short, but potent slab that should have prepared me for their latest tribute to all things raw, primitive and HEAVY-but it didn't. Nothing could, not even seeing their live show fully prepared me for the aural skull implosion that is the instantly classic 'Butchered Feast of Being'!!!

There are essentially two faces to this EP. Tracks 1 through 6 mastered by Dan Swano, and tracks 7 through 10 with a superior un-mastered sound. Superior in that the sound is thicker, meatier, deeper, and has about 70% more balls and CRUNCH. With that being the case I always skip the version with the intro and Divine Eve cover (yes, Divine Eve… remember them!?!?!) and listen to the superior versions of the original tracks. Which is what I am about to praise endlessly!

Since the intro isn't part of the pre-mastered tracks, the forerunner is “Bolt Slaughter”, and of course there it is, immediately recognizable. It's Bolt Thrower's “World Eater” slightly modified, for maximum skull denting effect. I am already in love with this EP! I am lost in the moment, slowly nodding my head in tempo, better than any drug on Earth, this is raw death. Vocals soaked in reverb, deep belching moans of horror, spine tingling. My teeth grit as the band throws my carcass into death-banger heaven (or is that hell?), the tempo increases to intense levels, my mind being battered by aggressive simplicity and I'm having a difficult time typing. Enthusiasm beckons me to air guitar and head bang in unison. I am compelled to let the music overcome me. And then, back from the battle field, slowly lugging my aching, nearly dead by metal carcass back home the tempo slows down again, back into “World Eater”-esque riff POWER. This isn't just a song, this is magic.

Next, "ABC Butchers Co Ltd", a grooving number that demands head banging as well as me shaking and swaying my body in obscene mannerisms. It's probably the most similar track to the 'Butchered at Birthday' material and it's pretty short-but it's 1:40 of pure delight, ugly groove paradise. After that though, it's time for some serious business, “Vice” starts out pretty damned brutal with some bludgeoning blasting before settling into a groove that makes me hammer my fist down with the tempo. This stuff sounds like the best tracks on Bolt Thrower's 'Realm of Chaos' album with a strong nod to the first Carnage demo (yup, it's that good). A false stop makes room for some Celtic Frost riffing complete with a death grunt! (OOH!), if anyone refuses to love this, I really do feel sorry for them! Back right into the Bolt Thrower like groove/blast section before this killer cut ends.

Final original song, “Suffer” is gloriously infested with great polka beats with some almost Celtic Frost styled riffing ala 'Morbid Tales' faster numbers. At a minute and a half the tempo more than doubles with the drums but the riffs remain the same speed (I love when bands do that!) this doesn't last long before the band settles into a short groove followed by some super sludgy, ‘as heavy as an elephant carrying a hippopotamus carrying a buffalo carrying a bag of 37 bowling balls” riffs that are bound to suffocate before ending this EP all too soon in a fading out of fuzz…

I can tell you right now, there is but 2 faults on this whole thing. Number One; Dan's inferior master-but that is fixed with the “bonus” tracks. The other is the brevity of it all, but I guess it's better to leave one salivating for more, than to be over fed and want to walk away from a meal without paying!

My review does no justice of how mandatory this album is for all lovers of thick, raw, simple, bludgeoning deathmetal void of modern trappings!

BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY!!!!!!!

September 21st, 2006