In the world of death/grind, Polish label Selfmadegod Records has long been a bastion of quality output. Bands as far-ranging as AGATHOCLES and ENCOFFINATION call it home, the former firing off multiple split releases per year, the true scatterguns of grind, the latter patient-yet-passionate doom/death. Racing headlong into this fray comes HATCHEND.
‘Shackled Humanity’ pierces right out the gate, feral and uncompromising in its love of speed, speed and speed. What’s truly impressive even from the start is the strength of the riffs themselves, lashing out from the blistering blast, discernable and diabolical at once. With no time for such paltry things as oh, I don’t know, taking a breath, ‘Who’s The Foe Today?’ ravages in the way so many black metal bands wish they could, a pure rawk solo slicing its way through, a venomous dagger jabbing out, fang-like from the mayhem.
The unhinged onslaught of HELVIS and VARUKERS come to mind throughout this beast, ‘Bloodthirsty Degenerate’ a prime example, while ‘Scapegoat’ is the NUCLEAR ASSAULT vs. No Life ‘Til Leather METALLICA street fight I was hoping to hear given the PR bio. I was a bit concerned in the first few seconds of ‘A Fierce Scalpel Menace’, but the raging hellhammer drums and blowtorch bass wipe any thoughts of such shit away in short order ala SAMMATH.
‘Feed This Emptiness’ is low-flying air demons strafing the battlefield with shells made of steel, blood and ground bones for gunpowder, and ‘Fascist By Design’ slithers back into speed/thrash metal territory, choppy riff and churning rhythm, the bellowing, charred larynx standing in for a vocalist spitting spears and gore. What else could one expect from an album with a finely coiffed Charles Manson as interpreted by Andy Warhol on the cover? This is the Violent Underground. This is Hell’s Angels shanking Meredith Hunter at Altamont in December, driving the final nail in the coffin of the hippie dream. This is the real Summer Of ’69.
Play this for your friends who think TOXIC HOLOCAUST ever mattered and laugh as they piss themselves.
Review By: Lord Randall
HATCHEND
Summer Of ‘69
Selfmadegod Records