INTERVIEW: Bütcher

Today we hear from the Black-Speed Metal force that is BÜTCHER from Belgium! Their latest offering “666 Goats Carry My Chariot” took the world by storm and can be heard via Osmose Productions and Dying Victims Productions. You can read my review of this album here! Now let’s get into it!

1. Greetings BÜTCHER! Belgian Black-Speed Metal cult whose recent album on Osmose Records “666 Goats Carry My Chariot” seems to have conjured a storm! Please introduce yourself!

Hey Nattskog, glad to be talking to you today. I’m R Hellshrieker, vocalist of the band. For those not familiar with BÜTCHER: we are a speed metal band, branded on the anvil of classic heavy metal and raw first wave (with hints of second wave) black metal. We actually name ourselves speed metal because it’s the one subgenre that has not been tainted by the modernization of labels given to a specific metal approach. 

What I mean is that whenever a band is labeled as a death/thrash or death/black metal, it does not automatically mean it’s in the framework that we hold dear for an extreme metal approach. Nor is a nowadays heavy metal band guaranteed for what we expect a heavy metal band to be. You know what I mean: fat production and layers of digitalization need to make up for a lack of interesting riffs or the absence of real aggression in the music. But a speed metal band, that specific label, – to us – still holds a sense of danger. Danger in the rock ‘n roll sense: “if we moved next door, your lawn would die.”

By that comparison the labeling of ourselves as speed metal does not mean every song we write is a straight copy of a Skeptics Apocalypse track. Far from it, as we conjure a concoction of many different influences from all genres of metal we hold dear. Those that were first laid upon mankind during the golden 80’s and early 90’s. But it may vary from classic, twin-guitar laden heavy metal, to epic metal, raw black metal, D-beat energy, insanely fast speed or extreme thrash … 

We do not have any restraints in the formation of our sound, it comes organically from all the stuff we listen to. As such, BÜTCHER as a speed metal force is more an identity label than a particular subgenre of metal we need to play per se, or a certain BPM we cannot divert from. 

I guess this vision we have of our metal band is far more important than the band biography. To sum a boring biography up: the band in its current form is an evolving from myself and KK Ripper (lead guitar and songwriter) playing together in the reformation of the band in 2014. Since the recording of 666 Goats Carry My Chariot we are joined by LV Speedhämmer on drums, AH Wrathchylde on bass and Max Mayhem on guitar. BÜTCHER has one previous full-length effort called Bestial Fükkin’ Warmachine where KK and myself play with the previous members of the band. Still some awesome tracks on that one as well. It was released by Babylon Doom Cult Records in 2017.

2. Talking of your recent album, can you give some insight as to what is happening on this brutal chariot featured in the cover artwork, it sure is a killer piece!

We decided on having Kris Verwimp do the artwork because of his fantastic work for bands like Absu, Marduk and such. He has a certain visual style of which we were convinced would work well for the epic, but still threatening approach we wanted for the coverart. We also needed the artwork as something striking, that would immediately grab attention. Kris has certainly succeeded in that, the artwork has often been mentioned in many positive reviews and social media shares.

The artwork is a depiction of the title track and album name. It’s about a nameless, intergalactic warrior. A destroyer of worlds that lays waste to the universe, and we gave him a traditional unholy approach. He is clad in armor and spikes, he travels the universe on a hellish chariot, and instead of steeds he is carried by 666 goats. For some twisted reason I came up with that, as sort of an amassment of the most metal things that are going on in my brain.

Kris suggested to have some goats actually carry the chariot, and have the others as a swirling force around it. From there stems the hellish vortex approach that is so prominent on the cover as well. He added the skull planet on the backside of the gatefold coverart and pretty much made the whole vortex flow together. Simply amazing.

3. With battle-hardened lyrics that certainly aren’t shy of referencing Metal, who inspires BÜTCHER’s approach? There is certainly the galloping hooves of Iron Maiden, some Desaster and Manowar maybe? What fuels the Speed Metal fire behind your sound?

The lyrics are written by me, and can be inspired by history, pure fantasy, a mixture of the fantastic and the profane. When you dissect it, a song may be about celestial powers, grandeur and epic forms of annihilation, like the title track of the latest album. It may also just be about a warrior queen that slays men by the thousands, but she lets a few of them survive to indulge in her nightly pleasures. That’s Iron Bitch summed up. Just to give some examples, I write where my mind takes me. And I almost always can’t help myself in putting small references in there, touching upon classic song titles or lyrics. I wouldn’t think anybody would notice really, but it seems people are finding these things, enjoying them as well. It helps in attaining the image of the band we want to convey: we are a metal band. We adore the genre, are protective of it as far as our own band is concerned and we are certainly not a spoof band. We are drop dead serious about everything we do – yet we are very much aware of the theatrical side to it. But that’s a far cry from taking the piss, or being retro just for the sake of writing a generic Slayer riff.

The music is really all KK Ripper’s creation. He is the one that writes the riffs, the song structures, and keeps working on it until it’s perfect. Any mood can influence him, and because there is heavy metal music for every mood you’re in, he just spews forth a very multitude of riffs. But he has a specific talent of writing a damn good song with these riffs. It’s not just a copy/paste affair, throwing together whatever sounds good. It’s all very controlled on a musical and technical level, and I think it’s one of our main strengths; his ability to write a good song.

4. As a band from Belgium, a country with tons of excellent underground bands but few larger Metal bands, how do you feel the scene is in your homeland? Plenty of maniac banging their heads healthily or a dry scene you wish to tour as far away from as possible?

This is a difficult question to answer because we are certainly very grateful towards the local audience that supported us so far. Every successful band, no matter how small or big their success, has its root in a local scene. On the other hand, we grew our fanbase across Europe way faster than in Belgium. Germany, Holland, Sweden, Poland, Spain, Switzerland , you name it: they were more receptive in embracing what we do. It may be a typical Belgian thing, to see a band gain attention on an international level, and then we will ‘really’ check them out. (As in, book them on our bigger stages.)

Then again, we are a small country and true-to-form underground metal just has more people listening to it in bigger countries. So it may be just a demographic thing as well. In any case: we do have a lot of great underground bands around, and plenty of fans now as well that really love what we do. So whatever the reason, it’s great that the approach we took in playing across the continent has gathered more homeland attention.

5. Now I mention touring, naturally COVID has put a stop to this for more or less all bands. Is touring a big deal to BÜTCHER and has this wrecked your year or is something boiling over behind the scenes ready to unleash on a post-plague world?

Yeah, Covid-19 really took its toll. Normally we would have had a great year with megacool gigs to present the album live. Our release show was a sold out success (supported by 3 equally awesome acts: Schizophrenia, Aggressive Perfector and Hexecutor), we followed up with a crazy gig in Spain and an extremely successful gig at Hell over Hammaburg (what a great fest that is!). We simply see with the merch we sell, people wearing our shirts and patches, that something very inspiring is boiling right beneath the surface. Had we been able to follow those gigs, who knows what it would have done for BÜTCHER?

But all bands and the whole society suffers of it. So we are just thankful and really impressed with how the album did: several represses, more types of merch, a tremendous amount of mentioning in best of 2020 lists … And all our gigs keep getting postponed but not cancelled. Once this pandemic is over, we are ready to hit the stages again. Be it one-offs, a minitour or a full-blown session. We are still unbelievably hungry! 

6. Your sound is one packed with energetic Speed Metal that is relentless and fearsome while the barbaric and cutting edge of Black Metal is certainly present too, do you have an allegiance to one scene more or are both absolutely integral to the band?

Both are absolutely integral to the band. When we are talking about music, our influences, everything from Thin Lizzy to Darkthrone, from Deströyer 666 to Omen, from Slayer to Judas Priest, from Hellhammer to Riot, from Savage Grace to Bathory … it’s always there, all of them. The very core of the BÜTCHER sound is the accumulation of all these parts. And I’d say mentally we may owe the most allegiance to Motörhead, you know: play rock ‘n roll, party hard and play hard. 

7. There seems to be a lot more Black-Speed bands around in recent years, do you think this is a killer boom of a great sound or a pathetic trend that only a few are worthy to dominate? I am curious if you think there are plenty of innovators, too many imitators or things are just right in 2020?

Whenever the attitude is right, any cool band is a great addition to any scene. It’s also absolutely vital that a band brings interesting things to the table and doesn’t take the piss. This type of music is NOT intended to just get away from your kids for an evening. If that’s the only aim of a band, I am out. Because it runs deeper than that. But you will simply hear that anyway and then it’s time to move on. Down the line, only the bands that exert true art and from their heart, will last. But that’s generally speaking, because I am very content with the underground metal scene as it stands now. There are killer bands who give it their all, there is a fantastic audience that craves metal played with balls of steel. And I am very proud that BÜTCHER is being a part of it.

8. Last of all, I know the last album is not too old but perhaps COVID has given you a chance to begin writing the next. What can we expect from BÜTCHER on the next recording and any news on when it may fall? Hopefully the killer vein of the latest is built upon for more speeding destruction!

Covid-19 has been so bad that we haven’t even been able to rehearse much. But Mr. Ripper has been writing some simply crushing material. The things we have been working on so far, well to be honest, they blew my mind. We have something very challenging lined-up. If we are able to pull this off the way we are envisioning it, I can’t wait to see the reactions of the fans and media. Hopefully we can record it in 2021. 

Thank you for your time!

-Nattskog

And thank you for your ongoing support Nattskog. Good luck with the promotion you do online, it’s a joy to watch and discover things with you. Talk again soon. Cheers!