Butcher ABC – North of Hell (ABCs of Goregrind)
I know I’ve heard of this Japanese grind machine before, this Butcher ABC, I just can’t remember where. Then again, there are a ton of bands in Japan just like this, but this particular gathering of grind maniacs is one of the oldest. They’ve been around for almost 25 years now, and that’s an amazing run for any grind band. Hell it’s amazing for a grind band to make it a year, but Butcher ABC has also released something practically every year they’ve been around. Splits, bootlegs, demos, this is the grind life y’all. Not surprisingly as well, many of their releases are from their own label, Obliteration Records, which has somehow been around longer than the band, and, even further, North of Hell is their first full-length in their entire career. Again, get it, this is the grind life y’all. It’s all about gross organs, vocals recorded in mud, taking forever to make a proper album, and releasing all your own stuff because no one else takes you seriously enough. Butcher ABC is different in this regard, however.
It might be because they’re from Japan. If you weren’t originally part of the first-wave grind spill that came out of one too many carcasses (get it?), you’re pretty much skate-shop-free-show-one-evening trash. You sound the same. No one cares. You’re not frightening. No one takes you seriously, so you hang around with like-grinded people and pretend it’s a scene. If you’re from Japan, however, you have a different path ahead of you because no matter how typical it sounds, it’s going to sound awesome, because it’s from Japan. I don’t get why the Japanese excel so much at pretty much every form of underground metal. They just get something we don’t, and I think it’s the cultural mentality of F it about censoring basically anything or caring about feelings. Goregrind is no exception to this rule anywhere in the world, but Butcher ABC are from Japan and have the octogenarian street-cred to carry the flag of Grindania. North of Hell was released, in grind life fashion y’all, by five different labels, in a rare cassette package and sometimes in the same format in case you didn’t get the “made in my house” version. If you want to pound some meat with a hammer before you eat it, Butcher ABC are going to deliver what you expect. There’s nothing new here, but since it’s from Japan it’s unlikely you’ll disapprove.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Butcher ABC – North of Hell
Apathetic View Productions, Happy Records, Headsplit Records, Obliteration Records, Selfmadegod Records
4 / 5
