Review Summary: "We're talking about masturbatory fantasies, masturbating and imagining themselves writing these sadistic" things
Butcher (Czech: Řeznik). Draughtsman, game developer, director and most importantly, since this is a server about music, rapper and pioneer of horrorcore here in the Czech Republic.
A controversial rapper who managed to be sued for his music video and lyrics to the song Finally a Solution, which is about the liquidation of the homeless (he won the lawsuit). Winner of the Czech equivalent of the American Grammy Awards, the Czech 2010 Nightingale, where he won the fan category of internet discovery only to be subsequently eliminated for his vulgar lyrics full of violence, abuse and all sorts of obscenities. Only to win the fan category rapper of the year in 2021 and tell everyone on TV that there are plenty of promising artists in the Czech Republic but unfortunately none of them are present in the hall, alluding to the fact that most Czech mainstream artists froze somewhere 20 years ago.
This graduated engineer is still the most prominent horrorcore artist here in the country today and in 2017 he released his magnum opus, Strangulation Groove.
A record containing 15 songs, 15 different horror stories, full of explicit violence and humor. In every single song, the butcher manages to masterfully use wordplay to paint a vivid picture of the best stories in front of the listener's eyes.
Be it the great title track Strangulation Groove (Strangulacni ryha) about a serial killer who lies in wait for his victims and then strangles them, it is full of explicit violence, vulgarities but thanks to the witty phrasing it never slips into making the listener disgusted.
"You're walking through the woods, something's passing behind the trees,
no, it's not a stalker, it's really lurking, you cunt,
"the line is tightening, his cock is sticking out,
"I'm gonna be left with a sideways groove."
In The Tooth Fairy (Zoubkova vila), he's pulling the teeth of innocent children right in front of our eyes again, it's sick and funny.
"Someone licks his feet, someone strokes his chamois.
Collecting children's teeth, that's my fetish.
If you don't know how to please me, cunt,
then pull your son's teeth out with a chisel, knock his gums to the bone."
Butcher's displays surgically precise voice work, whether he's screaming, spitting or delivering his verses theatrically, it's a treat for any horrorcore fan, as this Mr. Butcher is simply the best in the business. Impeccable story construction, catchy choruses, witty phrasing and plenty of disgusting brutal imagery materialized in the listener's mind.
Then on the album we find, besides purely entertaining horror stories, critiques of society like Slaves Conspiracy (Otroci konspiraci) about people believing all kinds of bullshit just because they find it online, which is perhaps even more fitting nowadays than at the time of release, or the track We Need Another War, which is about people nowadays not appreciating the prosperity we live in and therefore needing another War to appreciate it, which is something I just agree with and the author has hit the proverbial head on the nail, as they say.
"I want you to experience how your friend
...a grenade takes out half your chest!
I want you to see that we have the same thing inside.
When the backhoe piles your body in the big hole!
You're gonna have to turn into a cripple with no assets.
So you can appreciate what you're supposed to appreciate!"
There's also a philosophical track called The Circle (Kolobeh) about being stuck between life and death. It all closes with the track Baby Coffins (Destke rakve), where the rapper comes to terms with the death of his unborn offspring to the accompaniment.
Strangulation Groove is Reznik's strongest album, there isn't a weak track here, some are thought-provoking and most importantly, each one burns a ripe and funny horror story into your brain.
