Artist: Butzemann
Title: Merechyn
Genre: Gothic / Alternative / Neue Deutsche Todeskunst
Release Date: 15th October 2010
Label: Danse Macabre
Album Review
Much like the Brothers Grimm who inspired this album of dark, weird and violent fairytales, BUTZEMANN (Bogeyman) is a band consisting of two brothers Chris and Andreas. It begins with creepy old static record player music before a wall of sound assaults your sense with a chanted shout of 'Tanz' and eerie disembodied vocals take over. It details the part in the Snow White story where the Queen is forced to dance in red hot shoes until she's dead. Nice. It's a good if ghoulish start to what promises to be a great album. 'Fleisch' has a similar creepy feel to it and this album is all about making the hair on the back of your neck crawl (which it does).
Each song has an intro to it (I've listed only the songs themselves but in total there are twenty tracks in all including the intros which in all honesty make the songs). The more I listen to them the more reminiscent of OOMPH! they are but without the charismatic intensity. That being said what they do is very well orchestrated and it's certainly an album I'll listen to again. Highlights are 'Der Rote Stein' (The Red Stone) which is so gentle and evocative of so many things that it fairly carries you away before suddenly an ice cold creepiness comes over you. It's a fabulous track and one which is worth buying the album for alone. 'Abidabla' has a great mix of space age and Arabic music going on with whispered vocals and that too is something truly like no other track I've ever heard.
'Rosenrot' is deceptively calm and serene considering the subject matter of Snow White and Rose Red but nice cellos all the way through and I have no complaints about the inventive nature of the arrangements throughout the whole album. It's absolutely inspired. The nature of the CD is a great idea, because so few things bother us like the dark bogeymen of our childhood and this album clearly wants to provoke a response and on many tracks it does not the least the album closer 'Der Rattenfanger' with its lilting flute lines and sense of threat. Overall I like it as a album and I'll be pleased to catch them live when our paths cross because it's a very heavy offering and beautifully put together.
Tracklist
01. Tanz
02. Fleisch
03. Butzemann
04. Der Rote Stein
05. Der Schneider
06. Abidabla
07. Rosenrot
08. Mein Kind
09. Wolpertinger
10. Pfefferkuchen
11. Der Rattenfänger
Line-up
Chris Bargel - Vocals, Guitar, Bass
Andreas Bargel - Vocals, Vox, Synths, Drums, Programming
Website
http://www.butzemannmusik.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/butzemannmusik
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 8
Extras: -
Total: 8.5 / 10
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