As the old saying goes there’s “no rest for the wicked” and they don’t come much more wicked than the devilishly good Butcher Babies, so it’s a pleasant surprise to get a quick release to follow up the reasonably successful debut album Goliath; even with their hectic touring schedule over the last year. The release comes in the form of the bands second EP Uncovered, a collection of cover songs given the Butcher Babies treatment; and while there may not be anything earth shattering or surprising to be found, there are a few surprising selections.
The EP features songs from ZZ Top, Suicidal Tendencies and even The Osmonds; however before getting into the music we should mention the lethal job on the album artwork offering a tribute to the classic Guns’n'Roses album Lies, with the newspaper style layout which actually features some hilarious snippets. An added bonus to the album itself!
We are led into Uncovered with a chant of “beer drinkers, hell raisers,” before Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepherd put those famous vocals to the test on an aggressive retelling of the ZZ Top favourite Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers. The cover features some admirable guitar work by Henry Flury throughout, ensuring that this rework does justice to the legends who wrote it. This was a great choice to kick things off as it really is frenetic and gets your blood pumping, with each repeat of the aforementioned chanted chorus which continues at the end of the track to fade.
As spirited beginning whetting the appetite, it’s the second song where we get more than we bargained for. When you hear that there will be a cover of the 1966 novelty hit They’re Coming to Take Me Away Ha Haaa! by Napoleon XIV on the EP, you have to wonder what was going on with the thought process; though when you find out this was the choice of Carla Harvey then maybe it’s a bit more understandable, as she has proven time and time again to be a woman of vast inspirations and talents. Despite being a strange choice of song this Napoleon XIV cover is quite possibly the best song to be found, with an undeniably psychotic feel throughout the song to match the lyrics. Depicting a descent into madness, Butcher Babies have really made this song their own and should definitely be including this in any future live sets.There is very little that needs to be said about the Suicidal Tendencies cover of Don’t Give a Fuck, as the band just beat through it like they really don’t give a fuck about anyone in the near vicinity; as when this song gets played some serious shit is about to go down, anger explosion.
The penultimate song on Uncovered is Crazy Horses by The Osmonds which is far and away the biggest and most successful song on the EP; although with that comes a more difficult challenge. The song has been done to death by various other artists, through use in advertisements and various other forms so after a while it can all become a bit tedious. Despite all of that, we gave this every chance to win us over, though unlike the other songs on here it just didn’t hit the same high levels. The band do a great job once again to shake it up a bit and Henry Flury provides the most memorable performance here; though full credit to Jason Klein and Chris Warner too for their stellar work here and throughout. Pussywhipped by Stormtroopers Of Death (S.O.D) is very similar in delivery to Don’t Give a Fuck in the sense it is just a full on, in-your-face blast of metal: no frills attatched and 100mph vocal delivery from the ladies to end the album with your heart racing.
Overall, we have to admit that Uncovered didn’t sound as appealing as we’d hoped, due to so many bands releasing substandard cover versions; but when you listen you will see that thanks to using lesser known songs and giving it their all, Butcher Babies nailed it and deserve huge credit for that.
Butcher Babies have just released an EP – “Uncovered”. It’s an EP of cover versions, from a fairly diverse range of artists – from The Osmonds to ZZ Top to Suicidal Tendencies. The tracks are the ZZ Top song “Beer drinkers & hell raisers”, the one hit wonder novelty song by Napoleon XIV “They’re coming to take me away”, The Osmond’s classic “Crazy horses”, Suicidal Tendencies “Don’t give a fuck”, and S.O.D’s “Pussy whipped”. It’s an interesting mix and is explained by the fact that each member of the band (yes there are 5 members not just the two that many people notice) chose a track.
The first thing I noticed was the cover – in a way it’s a cover version too as it’s basically the same design used for Guns n Roses “Lies” EP – a newspaper style cover, but with different layout and articles. The small bits of text are quite bizarre and fun to read including the report of Carla’s left breast implant exploding, killing three and seriously injuring hundreds.
The songs have all been given a Butcher Babies sound – some bands doing cover versions do their best to imitate the original version down to the small details, but Butcher Babies have taken the other approach – take a song and make it totally different to the original. The EP kicks off with the ZZ Top cover – “Beer drinkers & hell raisers”. With it’s chanted chorus, screaming vocals and heavy guitars it certainly sounds different to the original and I have to say it sounds great – I definitely want to hear this one performed live next time they tour the UK.
Next up is the most bizarre choice of cover – “They’re coming to take me away”. The original is a very silly song from 1966 that reached number 4 in the UK singles charts. Next up is the Suicidal tendencies cover, “Don’t give a f@#k”, and it’s a cover that’s closer to the original than the others, but this version does sound a lot louder and heavier, largely due to the age of the original and the changes in technology I suspect. A great cover.
Next up is a song that I’m a big fan of – “Crazy horses” by The Osmonds. Covers of well-known songs are a risky move as it’s very easy to alienate fans of the original, but I think Butcher Babies have done a great cover here. The distinctive guitar riff is still there, but the vocals are a lot heavier.
The final track is “P*ssy whipped”, originally by S.O.D (Stormtroopers of death). The original was extremely fast, and the cover is certainly fast too – it’s hard to tell what the lyrics are in the verses as they’re blasted out machine gun fast, but the chorus is slower.
It’s a great EP. All the song’s have been covered in a way that gives the song’s the Butcher Babies sound, so they’re nice and heavy but still retain the essential characteristics of the originals. Hopefully the EP will encourage fans to check out some of the band’s being covered too – releases like this do introduce fans to songs they may not have head before, but might love.
The EP features songs from ZZ Top, Suicidal Tendencies and even The Osmonds; however before getting into the music we should mention the lethal job on the album artwork offering a tribute to the classic Guns’n'Roses album Lies, with the newspaper style layout which actually features some hilarious snippets. An added bonus to the album itself!
We are led into Uncovered with a chant of “beer drinkers, hell raisers,” before Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepherd put those famous vocals to the test on an aggressive retelling of the ZZ Top favourite Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers. The cover features some admirable guitar work by Henry Flury throughout, ensuring that this rework does justice to the legends who wrote it. This was a great choice to kick things off as it really is frenetic and gets your blood pumping, with each repeat of the aforementioned chanted chorus which continues at the end of the track to fade.
As spirited beginning whetting the appetite, it’s the second song where we get more than we bargained for. When you hear that there will be a cover of the 1966 novelty hit They’re Coming to Take Me Away Ha Haaa! by Napoleon XIV on the EP, you have to wonder what was going on with the thought process; though when you find out this was the choice of Carla Harvey then maybe it’s a bit more understandable, as she has proven time and time again to be a woman of vast inspirations and talents. Despite being a strange choice of song this Napoleon XIV cover is quite possibly the best song to be found, with an undeniably psychotic feel throughout the song to match the lyrics. Depicting a descent into madness, Butcher Babies have really made this song their own and should definitely be including this in any future live sets.There is very little that needs to be said about the Suicidal Tendencies cover of Don’t Give a Fuck, as the band just beat through it like they really don’t give a fuck about anyone in the near vicinity; as when this song gets played some serious shit is about to go down, anger explosion.
The penultimate song on Uncovered is Crazy Horses by The Osmonds which is far and away the biggest and most successful song on the EP; although with that comes a more difficult challenge. The song has been done to death by various other artists, through use in advertisements and various other forms so after a while it can all become a bit tedious. Despite all of that, we gave this every chance to win us over, though unlike the other songs on here it just didn’t hit the same high levels. The band do a great job once again to shake it up a bit and Henry Flury provides the most memorable performance here; though full credit to Jason Klein and Chris Warner too for their stellar work here and throughout. Pussywhipped by Stormtroopers Of Death (S.O.D) is very similar in delivery to Don’t Give a Fuck in the sense it is just a full on, in-your-face blast of metal: no frills attatched and 100mph vocal delivery from the ladies to end the album with your heart racing.
Overall, we have to admit that Uncovered didn’t sound as appealing as we’d hoped, due to so many bands releasing substandard cover versions; but when you listen you will see that thanks to using lesser known songs and giving it their all, Butcher Babies nailed it and deserve huge credit for that.
Butcher Babies have just released an EP – “Uncovered”. It’s an EP of cover versions, from a fairly diverse range of artists – from The Osmonds to ZZ Top to Suicidal Tendencies. The tracks are the ZZ Top song “Beer drinkers & hell raisers”, the one hit wonder novelty song by Napoleon XIV “They’re coming to take me away”, The Osmond’s classic “Crazy horses”, Suicidal Tendencies “Don’t give a fuck”, and S.O.D’s “Pussy whipped”. It’s an interesting mix and is explained by the fact that each member of the band (yes there are 5 members not just the two that many people notice) chose a track.
The first thing I noticed was the cover – in a way it’s a cover version too as it’s basically the same design used for Guns n Roses “Lies” EP – a newspaper style cover, but with different layout and articles. The small bits of text are quite bizarre and fun to read including the report of Carla’s left breast implant exploding, killing three and seriously injuring hundreds.
The songs have all been given a Butcher Babies sound – some bands doing cover versions do their best to imitate the original version down to the small details, but Butcher Babies have taken the other approach – take a song and make it totally different to the original. The EP kicks off with the ZZ Top cover – “Beer drinkers & hell raisers”. With it’s chanted chorus, screaming vocals and heavy guitars it certainly sounds different to the original and I have to say it sounds great – I definitely want to hear this one performed live next time they tour the UK.
Next up is the most bizarre choice of cover – “They’re coming to take me away”. The original is a very silly song from 1966 that reached number 4 in the UK singles charts. Next up is the Suicidal tendencies cover, “Don’t give a f@#k”, and it’s a cover that’s closer to the original than the others, but this version does sound a lot louder and heavier, largely due to the age of the original and the changes in technology I suspect. A great cover.
Next up is a song that I’m a big fan of – “Crazy horses” by The Osmonds. Covers of well-known songs are a risky move as it’s very easy to alienate fans of the original, but I think Butcher Babies have done a great cover here. The distinctive guitar riff is still there, but the vocals are a lot heavier.
The final track is “P*ssy whipped”, originally by S.O.D (Stormtroopers of death). The original was extremely fast, and the cover is certainly fast too – it’s hard to tell what the lyrics are in the verses as they’re blasted out machine gun fast, but the chorus is slower.
It’s a great EP. All the song’s have been covered in a way that gives the song’s the Butcher Babies sound, so they’re nice and heavy but still retain the essential characteristics of the originals. Hopefully the EP will encourage fans to check out some of the band’s being covered too – releases like this do introduce fans to songs they may not have head before, but might love.