Maybe it’s growing up in a country where religion plays a dogmatic role, but Poland is currently producing a bumper crop of sacrilegious bands with a penchant for lyrics about serial killers and their ilk, but whatever the reason I’m sure glad Sacrofuck are here to darken our world. Formed in 2006, they’ve unleashed a string of demos and split releases, but things got really interesting with the release of 2019 debut album, Ekstaza Upodlenia. Their sophomore album (and first for Godz Ov War) finds them upping their game to deliver a ferocious slab of death metal, and Święta Krew should definitely be in your collection.
While it’s certainly true that you can’t judge a book by its cover, or an album by its sleeve, the monochrome cover which houses Święta Krew gives a pretty good indication to what’s going on inside. Unfortunate souls hang from meat hooks whilst an army of dejected folk march towards us, overseen by a row of monks, whilst a skeletal reaper sits atop and passes judgement on all. It’s a rather uncompromising cover, and one which fits opening track ‘Wbijan gwoździe w Twoje dłonie’ perfectly. There’s no fancy introductions or preambles, just a thunderous drum roll and a relentless riff with which to beat the listener into submission. This isn’t music for the faint hearted, yet the more hardy souls will find much to admire, and marks Sacrofuck as not your typical extreme metal band. There’s some old school thrash solos here (and indeed, on the whole album) to suggest they haven’t broke completely with the past; not only does it create an interesting dichotomy between the antiquated and modern, it also adds a touch of light to an oppressive and heavy sound.
Yet, make no mistake, Sacrofuck deal in the heavy and ‘Trumna’ weighs on the listener, not unlike an anchor tied to a drowning man. Dragging us down to delirious depths, it offers little opportunity to extricate yourself, but when the music is this good, why would you want to? Guitars explode like phosphorous flares, the drums beat insane rhythms, as if channelled through an Ouija board, while the vocals are inhuman and seem to emanate from the very depths of Hades. In short, it’s everything that good extreme metal should be, and those brave enough to visit its dark, nihilistic corners will find an upbraiding, almost Nietzschean quality to the lyrics, and when combined with the ferocious music, makes for an explosive cocktail. Little space between the songs only adds to the feeling of brutality; each track, a well aimed blow to the cranium, hits very hard, while the one-two attack of closing couplet ‘El Raval’ and ‘Maska’ being particularly potent, and offering little in the way of redemption.
Today Europe, tomorrow the world.
- Święta Krew is released via Godz Ov War Productions and is available now (from here).
Track List:
- Wbijan gwoździe w Twoje dłonie
- Wieczna wojna
- Trumna
- Niech płynie krew
- Czarnego kozła śmierć
- Brama snów
- Zabij wszystkich, których kochasz
- Ból
- El Raval
- Maska
