Sacrofuck – Świ​ę​ta Krew

Special thanks to the Catholic Church in Poland for being an endless source of fucking badass lyrical inspiration for many of the country’s extreme metal bands, as Polish extreme metal has a tradition of attacking the Catholic Church in the country. The band Sacrofuck are an exception to that rule, as their primary focus is on illness and depravity/moral corruption. Thus, if you’re up for a round of an old-school inspired death metal with different lyrical content – then this is where you should tip in.

Founded in Warsaw in 2006, Sacrofuck is a quartet who played a punishing blend of death metal, grindcore and hardcore. Current line-up looks like this; Critical Madness (vocals), M.K. Bush (uitars), The Inexorable (guitars & backing vocals), T (bass) and Casketkrusher (drums). These are members of such bands as Devilpriest, Empheris and Chanid, so you can be sure that they’re no novices to the overcrowded Polish extreme metal scene.

After several demo, a split-release and a line-up change in 2017, the band finally released highly anticipated debut Ekstaza Upodlenia (Ecstasy of Humiliation). Since I didn’t have any initial knowledge of this band’s existence I had to go back and listen to their previous materials. Listening to their older stuff I could already hear their distictive, yet twisted style. Now they’re back with their sophomore 10-tracker album entitled Święta Krew (Holy Blood).

From the opening tune of “Wbijam Gwoździe W Twoje Dłonie” one is in doubt that we’re dealing here with a grusome piece of death metal with extraordinary aggression, attitude and morbid, haunting and yet fitting atmosphere. It continues like this more or less throughout the record’s ten tracks. It’s a grinding, almost claustrophobic sonic assault, with pretty varied but always growling, raging and with a maniacal barks, massive riffing, with ocassional Swedish-style D-beats, groovy bass and hammering & hard-hitting drumming. Lyrical content, as aforementioned, are dealing with subjects of inner illness, killing and depravity, somehow further enhance the envisioned atmosphere. The lyrics on Święta Krew are completely in Polish, which makes it hard to non-Polish speaking people to understand, but for me it’s just another extra ingredient that makes this morbid and scary release a quite listenable and authentic experience.

Standout tracks for me are like “Trumna”, “Brama Snów” and closing one named “Maska” (see official video below), as these three songs perfectly represent a relatively new approach taken by the band, capturing the true spirit of the band, where they perfectly balance memorable hooks with some extremely energetic swings.

Certainly, their musicianship is not the most technically proficient, but they compensate and counteract with their mature songwriting and some memorable hooks and vocal lines. The production is rough yet crispy, putting the focus on the performances of each of the band members and their respective instruments. It ensuring that each track leaves its mark. I also like this kind of black and white cover artwork, the work of InvertedArt666.

Mostly recommended for fans of absolutely devastating, evil, filthy and uncompromising 90’s death metal, in the vein of Atrocity, Terrorizer, Repulsion, Carcass, Exhumed and similar brutal acts.

To find out more about Święta Krew release, and band’s label, visit https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/wi-ta-krew