Originally written by Chris Chellis.
Death metal ought to be crushing and blunt about it; no minced words and certainly no subtlety. It is neither an exercise in progression nor a safe haven for so-called post-metallers. Fashionable it is not. Calm Hatchery is neither progressive nor fashionable. Early signs are positive.
Sacrilege of Humanity is just the second album from this quintet from Poland, but one would never know it by how epic and well-crafted most of these songs have proven to be. I am not sure what I expected on first listen, but it wasn’t quite this level of awesomeness. Tending to veer more toward the stomp of Swedish style death metal, my tastes aren’t a perfect fit for Calm Hatchery on the surface. The blistering drums and quick changes of pace bring a few of their countrymen to mind, but there’s some Floridian death metal influence in there, too. It’s a recipe for disaster in less capable hands.
Fortunately, these guys are adept songwriters and musicians. Take “Them,” for example. It’s not quite Behemoth-level epic, but it is close, and it has a similar feel: windy, almost repetitive and hypnotic riffing over an insanely frenetic rhythm section. Where repetition might amount to a negative for some bands it gives this one an identity. It certainly gives “Them” an identity. And while the weight of the rhythm might not carry the song itself, there are little touches that create a nice balance between the expected (i.e. hypnotic riffing) and the unexpected (I.e. cool little leads like the one at 2:20). It’s not every band that manages to hit the brakes before stumbling into the land of wankery to remain firmly in actual songwriting territory.
This careful balance becomes something of a unique stamp for the band, as most of the 10 songs on Sacrilege of Humanity follow that same formula. It makes for an enjoyable and quick 37 minutes. The leads alone are worth the listen. Even the shortest track has one hell of a scorcher. And rounding it all out is Szcepan on vocals. How such a skinny dude manages to sound so full and guttural I’ll never know. I understand there are a thousand different bands to choose from and only so many hours in the day to devote to listening to a significantly small portion of them, but one could do a lot worse in choosing Calm Hatchery’s Sacrilege of Humanity, frills be damned.
