Butcher and the butterfly is the third album from queen adreena but the quality is as high as ever. Queen adreena have a female vocalist which although is not unusual is not the norm either, the quality of singing that Katie Jane Garside has managed to produce consistently on the last 3 albums with queen adreena and the one’s previously with daisy chainsaw is very good. Her voice is very unique from screaming to very gentle singing she manages to combine them very naturally. Garside is known well for having a true on stage presence. When I saw them live she had a broken leg but this didn’t mean her performance was tame in any way. Her singing can often sound like the release’s of a crazy girl, I like to think this is the kind of singing Sylvia Plath would of produced had she sung her poetry.
The album continues with Crispin’s excellent guitar playing which seems to be a mixture of psychedelic solo’s and punk sounding riffs but all his playing remains very individual and is truly his own sound. The solo on join the dots is a good example it’s a simple solo nothing pretentious the sound is very unique and sounds very untamed but is produced well to not let the distortion sound overly wild.
The drumming provided by former clash drummer Pete Howard is very good, varying between tribal drumming and some more punky beats the drumming complements the music very well playing interesting fills between Garside’s screams and Crispin’s guitar. The bass is very effective and works well in the band the bass doesn’t play anything complicated but this is true of all the instruments so this detracts nothing from the album.
The general vibe of this album is quite varied with the lyrics seemingly coming from a confused teenage girl, this is not to say they are immature just direct but can also be very metaphorical. They lyrics and the singing work together very well and make the album seem very personal. There’s something distinctly British about the sound of the album and the band in general proving good music can still be made in the UK. Some highlights of the album are suck, medicine jar, join the dots and FM doll although all the tracks are excellent these may be some starting points if you want to check out this band.
