In all honesty, I should hate this.
All the contributing factors are in place. Former riot-grrrl, fronting a faux-metal rock band, with dark songs about murdered 7 year-old beauty queens, would, usually, have me running to the hills in a blind panic. But not this time.
It seems like a lifetime ago that Katie Jane Garside and Crispin Gray were flirting with mainstream success with 90's post-punk outfit, Daisy Chainsaw. Back they come though, with a new 21st century shinier, sassier and, an all together, more mature sounding band, QUEEN ADREENA.
“The Butcher And The Butterfly” is the third album to come from Queen Adreena, following on from their turgid 2000 debut “Taxidermy”, and the much better 2002 effort, “Drink Me”. This, though, is a completely different kettle of fish.
Opener 'Suck' is a brooding, atmospheric riff-laden start, which has Garside seductively breathing the lines: “Suck it down deeper, oh suck. A Little bit deeper, oh suck”, but it's tracks such as the two singles 'FM Doll', and 'The Medicine Jar', and the drum heavy blues beasts 'Race Towards The Sun' and 'Black Spring Rising', which really stand above the rest.
The uncomprimising tale 'FM Doll' is particularly powerful. “Strip baby strip, cos you're daddy is watching. Strip baby strip, sure your mother knows nothin”, screams Garside in a vicious tirade about the well publicised murder of seven year old U.S.A. pageant queen Jon-Benet Ramsay.
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The softer, more delicate side of the Queen Adreena sound is also earnestly explored with 'Birdnest Hair', the exquisite 'Childproof', and the ethereal delight of 'Cold Light Of Day'.
For the newcomer, there's nothing new here to be enticed by. Flashes of Zepplin-esque riffery, whisperings of Polly Harvey and Karen O, as well as the odd faint haunting sounds of an old Sioux warrior, are all to be found, at some point or another, within these 16 tracks. And, if truth be told, that's not too bad a heritage to call upon.
With a supporting slot on this summer's Marilyn Manson stadium tour to be followed, if the rumours are to be believed, by a full British tour, the release of 'The Butcher And The Butterfly' should well be the catalyst to something a lot bigger for Queen Adreena.
In all honesty, I love this.
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