MANIAC BUTCHER - Maniac Butcher (7x 12" PICTURE DISC Box Set)

WEREWOLF RECORDS is proud to present a special vinyl boxset from the legendary MANIAC BUTCHER, comprising the band’s seven albums on seven picture-disc records.

“No keyboards! No female vocals! Only pure black metal storm!” This was the guiding principle for Czech Republic’s MANIAC BUTCHER from their original formation in 1992 until their first demise in 2002, and thereafter during their second era of 2009-2015. Helmed by the indefatigable duo of vocalist Barbarud Hrom and guitarist Vlad Blasphemer, MANIAC BUTCHER set forth on a journey that included seven studio albums, a trio of live albums, four splits, and two demos, all establishing a uniquely Czech black metal sound but also one that yielded influence across the black metal underground well into the 2000s.

In that ancient year of 1995, MANIAC BUTCHER burst onto the international black metal scene with Barbarians. Sporting classic cover artwork, Barbarians bore a strong semblance to the Bathory-indebted wave of black metal coming from Scandinavia at the time, but it also more strongly suggested their unhinged nature that would soon bear fruit. More importantly, perhaps, this debut album sonically showed a clean generational break from older Czech forebears Master's Hammer and Root. The next year came Lucan-Antikrist, where they continued the Barbarians template but added a touch more atmosphere, partly due to the more-distant production. Likewise, Barbarud’s vocals began getting more unhinged, and the album closed with the near-15-minute epic “Soudný den.”

In 1997, a year where the aforementioned Scandinavian wave had largely lost its way, MANIAC BUTCHER struck with the ultra-raw & nasty Krvestreb. While similarities to earlier Immortal or Darkthrone had come to mark MANIAC BUTCHER’s sound, it’s arguably on Krvestreb where the band really began asserting their own identity, moving parallel with other exciting currents throughout an underground chafing against black metal’s commercialization. Throughout all these albums, the band utilized their native tongue, but on 1998’s Cerná Krev, the song titles began stretching to epic lengths, imparting a poetry that would find its way into an increasingly violent & more shredded style of black metal. A unique disconnect, for sure, and one that would blossom further on 1999’s robust & supremely agitated Invaze: arguably, MANIAC BUTCHER’s first undeniably classic album.

But, the best was yet to come. In 2000, MANIAC BUTCHER eclipsed all prior with Epitaph – The Final Onslaught of Maniac Butcher. Truly titled, Epitaph was to be the band’s final full-length before they decided to enter the grave. No doubt sensing that their legacy required a monumental closing chapter, Epitaph saw MANIAC BUTCHER firing on all cylinders – epic & energizing songwriting, utterly mesmerizing execution, and a blitzed-to-fuck production – and doing it all with some of the longest song titles in black metal. Absolutely grim, fucking wild, and yet at their most METAL, Epitaph invoked both utter possession and berserker fury: MANIAC BUTCHER bowed out with their most classic album ever, honor and integrity intact.

Some scattered few live shows followed Epitaph, but for all intents and purposes, MANIAC BUTCHER was broken up by 2002. Nevertheless, that berserker fury was an itch that still needed to be scratched, so Barbarud and Vlad assembled a new lineup in 2009 and released Masakar the following year. The only MANIAC BUTCHER recording not to be initially released on their own Pussy God Records, Masakar saw the band in slightly more finessed form, which only made their inherent nastiness hit that much harder. Tragically, Vlad would pass away in 2015, fully delivering MANIAC BUTCHER to the grave.

With total reverence, longtime fans WEREWOLF RECORDS resurrect MANIAC BUTCHER’s memory for a new generation of authenticity-starved maniacs with a vinyl boxset collecting all of the band’s seven albums on picture disc for suitably necro sound. Featuring an exclusive poster plus lavish & lewd box art, this vinyl boxset is a monumental cenotaph to the kings of Czech raw war black metal: RIP Vlad Blasphemer, reign with Metal From Hell!