Krvestřeb

Maniac Butcher’s third length, Krvestreb, isn’t mentioned too often, as well as the band in general. And it’s a shame, because a lot of people are missing out on some great Black Metal.

Barbarud and Blasphemer have been the band’s main line-up through Maniac Butcher’s existence, with Barbarud creating the music and Blasphemer with the lyrics and vocals. Lord Unclean helped out with this album, contributing some sounds with bass and guitar.

The album starts with “Emperor of Blue Sky”, an intro that leads into a song that definitely defines MB’s sound: fast, aggressive, and full of hate. Although Maniac Butcher’s music isn’t extremely fast, one gets the rush that most speedy black metal gives off. This is followed by a ‘Carpathian Forest’ sounding riff, and ends with more of what MB is about. The next song, “Eyes of the Victim”, is quite possibly one of the greatest Black Metal songs written (and keep in mind, this album was made right after the second wave had ended, where you’ll find most great songs. So Maniac Butcher should be considered right up there with the ‘veteran Black Metal bands’., because they know what they’re doing, and they do it well.) This song is made up of great riffs right from the beginning to the end. Blasphemer’s vocals are some of the best and most distinctive in bm, and it definitely shows here. The Czech lyrics make them even better.

The third song, “A Song of Black Ravens” starts with a reverbed acoustic piece and immediately flows into a slow paced riff. After that, the song switches from slow to fast, something you’ll find in a lot of Maniac Butcher’s songs.

The rest of the songs are pretty much MB trademarks, never really dwelling in any other style other than their own. Although the production isn’t as raw as most black metal, it isn’t anything you’d find similar to anything like Dimmu Borgir or other bands of the like. This album is kind of short, ending around 31 minutes, which means you really can’t get bored with this album with all the great riffing in it, I’m sure it’s hard to get bored. I’ve had it for a while and it’s still just as good when I got it. Anybody interested in ugly and ‘true’ black metal, or if you liked Cerna Krev, you should pick this up.