Butcher Babies

Taken at face value, GOLIATH is the monstrous debut from one of the most exciting bands to emerge from the Los Angeles metal scene since System Of A Down turned the city on end nearly twenty years ago. But scratch beneath the surface and the haunting story behind GOLIATH blurs in and out of horrific focus, examining the ruins of an American culture obsessed with apocalyptic carnage. GOLIATH was born in the bleak wasteland where the more savage your act, the more celebrated you become - and in a world where the miserable feel obliged to retaliate, the BUTCHER BABIES shatter the dementia with molten fury and unbridled sonic bliss. Hailing from the City Of Angels, the BUTCHER BABIES offer redemption from the overplayed underground, exorcising demons with a visceral sound matched only in scope by their explosive stage show. Frontwomen Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepherd, guitarist Henry Flury [Amen], bassist Jason Klein [Azdachao] and drummer Chris Warner [Scars of Tomorrow] juxtapose brutal, aggressive riffs with beautiful melodies that wail with anguish and hope for redemption. The band signed a worldwide deal with Century Media Records in December 2012, and a month later hit the road with Marilyn Manson on what proved to be one of the new year's most talked about tours. The run was a return to form for Manson and a call to arms for the BUTCHER BABIES, who honed their razor-sharp riffs and soul-searing vocals in front of live audiences as a source of manic pre-production. Only days after wrapping the tour in the City Of Sin, the band was in an L.A. studio with producer Josh Wilbur [Gojira, Lamb Of God, Hatebreed] recording the debut album that has the metal community buzzing. The eleven-track opus chronicles the story of the forsaken as they transform into GOLIATH - monsters that society has built, and monsters that turn to society for retribution. Suddenly opening track "I Smell A Massacre" is more than just shock rock, casting a cautionary tale to anyone in screaming distance. And once it sinks in that GOLIATH is more than just a figment of our imagination, the rest of the album becomes all the more real. "Magnolia Blvd" is about the demons that coexist around us all, while "Grim Sleeper" is unsettling and haunting, an angelic intro quickly pulverized by a repressed memory so real we feel the victim's cries. "In Denial" couples blood-curdling angst with more of the melodies that showcase the BUTCHER BABIES unique, two-frontwoman lineup at its most profound - singing and screaming trading hope and rage like caged souls fighting for freedom. "Give Me Reason" bounces hard and fast with hell-bent fury, "The Mirror Never Lies" assaults our reflection with an ominous and catchy chorus, and "The Deathsurround" showcases the band at perhaps its most intense with a song as heavy and brutal as the title suggests.