Next to nothing is known about this band. We know their lineup, but not when they formed or anything like that. There aren't even any pictures of them. All that is known is that they were a short-lived death metal band from Colorado that released only one album called Meat in 1999 and split up shortly thereafter. Said album was ridiculously hard to find. Not only were there no physical copies anywhere, but all of the download links were dead. I eventually found a torrent for the album, but it took me forever to download it. This album better be worth the effort I put into getting it, because if it sucks, then I'm gonna be pissed.
Well, their performance is outstanding, but their songwriting is confusing and leaves something to be desired. The drums are utterly impeccable and perform lots of intricate drum patterns and fills that seem to be heavily influenced by the great Flo Mounier. This is especially obvious on songs like “Destiny”. However, their incredible performance is ruined by the fact that the snare sounds like the guy is pounding on an empty paint can. This becomes especially obvious during the blast beats. Each pound of that accursed paint can snare sounded like someone was rattling my brain, and not in a good way.
The vocals consist of a hoarse guttural growl, sounding like a mix between John Gallagher and Dallas Toler-Wade. They also use a scream that reminds me of Glen Benton. Both vocal styles are performed extremely well and are exquisitely brutal, but they lack focus. Most of the time, it feels like they're switching between vocal styles at random. There's no rhyme or reason to any of it. I also hate those times when the screams use that vocal effect that make him sound like he's caught in a wind tunnel. (I don't know what that effect is called.) It just doesn't belong.
As with the drums, the performance given by the guitars is incredible. The riffs are dark and crunchy, the slam riffs are pulverizing, the technical/melodic riffs are mesmerizing, and the solos are positively wicked. I especially like that beautiful noodling at the beginning of “Bloody Onion” that reminds me of The Sound Of Perseverance. However, none of these pieces seem to fit together. As with the vocals, the changes in riff style occur completely at random. One minute they're playing some pulverizing slam riffs, and the next minute they decide, “Kay, let's play some technical riffs now!” It's like they didn't know what to play next so they just decided to play whatever came to their minds.
Then there's the issue of the so-called “silly moments”. It's the stuff like the circus-style riffs on “Freak Of The Week” and the surf rock riffs on the title track. I looked at the cover of this album with its gratuitous depictions of gore and expected brutal, blood-splattered death metal, but when I pushed play, I got this shit. Of course, you might point to bands like Crotchduster and Terapi Urine and say that since they were silly, Butcher Shoppe has every right to be silly. What you don't consider is that Crotchduster and Terapi Urine were upfront about their silliness and backed it up with awesome songwriting. Butcher Shoppe, on the other hand, pull a bait-and-switch and present us with confusing, lackluster songwriting. My point is, if you want to be silly, then be upfront about it. Don't deceive us with a brutal cover and then present us with derpy derp bullshit. Digoxin pulled the exact same shit, and I tore them a new asshole over it.
On top of all that, there's way too much filler. First of all, there are the audio clips. They use a lot of them, and I hate them. They last too long and they distract from the music. The audio clip on the first track alone last almost thirty seconds. I swear, it's almost as bad as Mortician. Sure, I liked the Ren & Stimpy clip they used on the title track, but what they didn't bother to consider is that if I wanted to watch the show, I'd watch the damn show. Even when they're playing straightforward death metal, the songs seem to go on for way too long. Most of the time, it seems like they just meander endlessly. If the band had stopped dicking around and took the time to cut down on the fluff, then this album would have been way better.
In conclusion, while the musicianship maybe incredible, the songwriting falls flat on its ass. The album is also hampered by completely unnecessary audio clips and silly moments. I really wanted to like this album because it's obvious that the band members are amazing musicians, but it seemed like they did everything they could to prevent me from doing so. If I had known the album was going to be like this, I never would have wasted so much time looking for it. That's probably what I get for wanting to listen to the most obscure music imaginable.
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