I didn’t discover Buckcherry until years after their
breakthrough album, 15, was released. By that, I mean that I found out about
them the year that Black Butterfly was released…two years after 15. Being part
of the metalhead community and subculture, I’ve seen and heard countless rants
about Buckcherry and whatnot, but they’ve always been a group that I’ve
strongly appreciated and respected as being one of the better bands in the
modern hard rock scene. Although I will admit that after getting completely
used to hearing the EXTREME complexity of extreme metal, it has been much more
difficult to see technical and instrumental skills in rock (and pretty much
most non-metal) musicians, it hasn’t impaired my ability to see creativity in
the minds of these musicians; especially in the minds of Buckcherry.
I wouldn’t say that Buckcherry has a heavier rock sound like
other hard rock bands like Kutless, Disciple, Point 1, and Motorhead. I would
actually consider Buckcherry to have a much more upbeat and sometimes poppy
sound. I guess I haven’t been completely worn out of this sound yet because I
seem to be the only person I know that still enjoys it. But regardless of that,
this album has the traditional upbeat hard rock sound that Buckcherry is known
for, except it starts to go in a couple different directions during certain
points of the album; which is none other than a sign of experimentation.
In 15, Buckcherry’s sound either went to a much heavier punk-oriented
sound in songs like Crazy Bitch, Broken Glass, and So Far; or in a traditional
soft rock ballad sound. Black Butterfly almost completely leaves the areas of
the 90s punk sound and goes into a hard rock sound, which is a place that
Buckcherry hasn’t ever visited before. There seems to be different types of
hard rock; most of them coming from the mid-70s to late 80s. Black Butterfly
has a sound that lies almost perfectly in between a really heavy sound and a
really poppy sound; sometimes sliding off more in one direction or the other at
times. This sort of transitioning sounds with each song is what I like to see
in rock albums because a lot of today’s hard rock bands seem to stick to only
one sound for each album.
Not only that, some of the songs have a more continuous,
smooth flow like Rescue Me, Tired of You, Imminent Bail Out, and Fallout. And some
of the songs have a more choppy, groovy feel like Talk to Me, Too Drunk…, and A
Child Called “It”. There are some songs that have a unique sound of their own
that set them apart from the rest of the album like Cream, which strongly
reminds me of Green Day. For those of you that like the ballads from 15, there
are numerous ballads that aren’t as soft sprinkled throughout this record.
Josh Todd’s voice is one of the most unique and easily
recognizable singing voices I’ve ever known. It’s one of those voices that I
would be able to recognize no matter what the situation was; whether it be the
national anthem at the beginning of a sports game or a guest appearance in a
jazz album or an Escape the Fate song. The guitar work isn’t what I would call
AMAZING, but it is better than average rock guitar work. The drumming is
generic but still fits the bill to make this album as strong as it is. The one
musician that I wish would have more of a part is the bassist. First off, you
can rarely hear what he’s playing. Second, I think that it would make the
entire sound of the music sound catchier if he threw in some short bass
solos/riffs here and there to keep the music more interesting. But other than
that, there isn’t much that I would change about Black Butterfly, I would give
this record 16/20.
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