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You’ve heard me rant about the horrors that lurk in the promo sump come December, and how it’s mostly sub-basement black metal made by those who live on gas station pizza rolls. That kind of low-target high-risk environment is why I noticed the offering from German trve metal act Olymp and took action upon it rashly. Before we go any further, I need to point out that Olymp (I assume short of Olympus) is a truly godawful name. It also sounds like an erectile dysfunction medication. The fact that their sophomore album is titled Rising makes the comparison all the more… turgid, while also suggesting an entire marketing campaign for gas station dick pills. Also, that album art is next-level BAD. On the plus side, it’s probably not AI-generated. Poor moniker and dubious art choices aside, Olymp play a burly, beefy, 80s-centric variant of trve heavy metal with elements of Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road in the DNA. They also hit the same ground as their fellow countrymen, the long-running cheeseball power warriors, Wizard. That means Olymp teeter on that razor edge between serious and trve and over-the-top, cheddar-infected cornballery, which is a tough place to make a glorious last stand. But all hope is not lost, Olympi-Won!

After a table-setting instrumental, the Olymp ethos is unveiled on “Olive Wreath.” It involves hammering you relentlessly with beefy riffage as Sebastian Tölle delivers a rough, raw bellow that’s more shout than sing. He sits somewhere between the legendary Tim Baker of Cirith Ungol and Matias Nastolin of Desolate Realm, and his gruff style generally fits the sound and adds an extra layer of toughness. At times, “Olive Wreath” reminds me of long-forgotten German speed metal fiends Iron Angel and Deathrow, and the guitar phrasing often veers heavily into Cirith Ungol territory. These are all big pluses in my book, and if they gave me a whole album of this meaty broth, I’d happily overlook the issues discussed in the intro. “Thread of Life” is another iron fist to the cranium with burly, simplistic riffs pounding your brain nonstop, and it’s not far removed from what classic Gravedigger did/still do.

Olymp’s style is exceptionally simple, direct, and old school, and when it works, you get cuts like the slam-banging “Orpheus,” which riffs hard enough to shake teeth loose and addle your brain gelatin. The same goes for album closer “White Rose” which is laden with harmonies and flourishes that strongly recall Cirith Ungol. It’s an effective metal chestnut with a nice touch of melancholy. Not every cut pulls off the ancient alchemy, though. “Fire and Brimstone” comes off as really old Saxon and off-brand Manowar sutured together badly, and it’s dumb as hell. “Titan War” is aggressive and punchy, with Tölle sounding more like Tim Baker than usual, but things run too long, and the last few minutes feel tedious. “Olymp” also suffers from a late-song lag. While several songs extend too far considering the number of ideas presented, most tracks manage to avoid the bloat contagion. At 40 minutes, Rising feels like a quick enough spin, and the aggression levels keep it humming.

The biggest snag for Olymp is Sebastian Tölle’s vocals, which are too limited and one-note. As a poor man’s Tim Baker, his raw, ragged shouting works best on the most aggressive numbers, but as the album drags on, his delivery becomes more and more irritating. He isn’t able to elevate the material consistently, and you find yourself wishing he had another gear. The guitar work by Tölle and Armin Amboss reeks of the 80s trve metal era, and they do borrow a lot from Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road while beefing up the tones for maximum impact. Their playing is a highlight and routinely drops nostalgia glitter on those who grew up in the 80s.

Olymp play a style I’m predisposed to enjoy, and I do appreciate most of what they offer on Rising. If they could smooth out some of the rough spots in their songsmithing and improve the vocals, Olymp could become a worthy opponent for the likes of Eternal Champion and Dragon Skull. As things stand, they’re more a rowdy street thug than a noble barbarian. Here’s to rising on command!



Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metalizer
Websites: olymp-band.com | olympmetal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/olympmetal
Releases Worldwide: December 19th, 2025

Bütcher – On Fowl of Tyrant Wing Review

By Steel Druhm

Where is the goat and the chariot? Where is the meat Billy horn that was blowing? The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into the fowl of a Tyrant. 2020 saw the metalverse shaken to its core by the massively infectious sophomore album by Belgian black/trad/thrashers Bütcher. So much rowdy fun was 666 Goats Carry My Chariot that it mattered not a wit that it was entirely composed of well-trod metal tropes. The hyperactive 80s speed with blackened edges was just the right mixture of heavy, catchy, and over-the-top with songs that had teeth. Fast-forward to 2024 and we get the much-anticipated follow-up On Fowl of Tyrant Wing. Can these unheralded goat hoarders rebottle the lightning and magic that made 666 such an out-of-left-field brain smasher? That’s no small ask and no easy feat to manage, even with unlimited goatpower at their disposal!

Things open with a slick intro loaded with NWoBHM flavor with regal guitar lines that reek of Savage Grace. From there you get launched into burning chaos with the crazy speed-thrashing rampage of “Speed Metal Samurai.” Yes, it’s a cheeseball title but the song is this album’s version of “Iron Bitch” off of 666, so you’ll get shaken, slapped up, and brutally prodded. R Hellshrieker is once again an unhinged maniac at the mic, screaming, growling, shrieking, and singing with lunatic gusto and verve. He even adopts very ICS Vortex high-register cleans for dramatic effect. Rabid riffs and crazed harmonies storm with menace beneath his ravings and the hyperkinetic energy cannot be denied or restrained. The commitment to excess splashes over into “Blessed by the Blade” and the 80s live loudly in the resulting mayhem. It’s speed metal all day with a slight blackened touch and it’s madcap, raucous fun. Hellshrieker straddles the line between enthusiastic thrash bark and wailing King Diamond-esque dramatics to good effect and classic metal elements round out the bashing and add a veneer of accessibility and class. An especially wild outburst arrives with “Keep the Steele (Flamin’ Hot)” where all the chains come off and the Mad Bütcher runs amok. It’s a nuclear speed bomb with no guard rails to keep it safe and things get out of control fast. Hellshrieker really goes off the reservation here, screaming, roaring, and adding little King Diamond theatrics in a vocal slurry. His commands to “bow down to the Powerlord” are especially endearing as that was my nickname in high school.

The second half of On Fowl of Tyrant Wing is a different beast of an altered color. The last few songs are all much longer and more involved, trying to suture a ton of ideas into cohesive pieces of music with varying degrees of success. “A Sacrifice to Satan’s Spawn” welds NWoBHM bits to Mercyful Fate-esque pieces and slathers it all with guitar-forward excess and a somewhat “restrained” performance by Hellshrieker. It works because it asserts a modicum of moderation. 9-plus minute closer “An Ending in Fyre” exercises not such discipline, dumping Viking black metal, NWoBHM, and classic metal into an industrial cow juicer with unusual flavors flopping out of the thresher. It has good bits and interesting moments but it’s messy, feels a bit forced and duct-taped together, and after 6 minutes it starts to drag. Though the album is only 43-plus minutes, the presence of back-to-back-to-back long songs on the back end makes things feel longer than they are. Worse, the material lacks the same wild novelty and raw hooks that 666 had in abundance. I like it all but I’m only really impressed by certain tracks. That’s a bit of a letdown.

Musically, Bütcher has a lot going for them. KK Ripper and KV Bonecrusher go all in guitar-wise with furiously jagged riffs stacked on melodic NOWoBHM harmonies and grooves. The six-string insanity flows like blood from the n00b recycling unit at AMG HQ, making every track kinetic. There are many slick, memorable moments scattered over the album, and the duo never seems hard up for inspiration. Hellshrieker is a special kind of monster. He’s like 15 people trapped in one body and they all want their time in the spotlight. Screams, death roars, blackened cackles, croons, everything just comes out in seemingly random fashion and it all kinda works. It’s really just an issue of the songs having less bite and staying power this time that undermines the goatworks.

There’s never going to be a dull Bütcher album. Their all-gas, no-brakes approach guarantees that much. I enjoy On Fowl of Tyrant Wing and several songs are good enough to make playlists. I just don’t see blasting this as much as I did 666 Goats, because I was obsessed with that goatwomit nonsense. I can still recommend it though because good times will be had and the milk of Black Phillip will season your beer salad with many exotic blessings. Go get bucked.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Osmose
Websites: osmoseproductions.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/butcherspeedmetal | instagram.com/butcherspeedmetal
Releases Worldwide: October 25th, 2024

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