HATCHERY's new album "Forced To Fight" comes three years after their "Birth Of A Bomb" debut while two demo CDs had preceded this semi-official discography. With seven years on their back, the German thrashers show a clear will to kneel in front of the classic Thrash Metal altar and we're possibly willing to participate in this feast, but with a couple of remarks for the band's benefit (we hope).

Thrash Metal is not an easy task as many may assume. The borders within witch a band shall try to stay 'true' are rather inflexible, to say the least. And if America always had the tendency to suffer enough 'crossover' bastardizations it was Europe that - in most cases - held the pride of ruthless Thrash Metal high, to some time extend at least. The good thing 'bout HATCHERY is that their songwriting seems to be deriving from an honest tribute to all things Thrash Metal: Europe, America, everything...as long as it's filthy, moshing and mean.

Die-hards of evil/dark Thrash Metal should look somewhere else to feed their voracious hunger since HATCHERY's sound shall bring to mind bands like KREATOR and HOLY MOSES (or DESTRUCTION?) from one side and EXODUS or FORBIDDEN-meets-OVERKILL from the other. The guitar riffs are quite razorblade and the rhythm section changes tempos from one to another in easy, preserving the 'moshpit' Thrash ideals. Many ideas are really impressive and some neckbreaking moments are not out of the question. But the vocals...

...are possibly the weak point in the whole album. Not disappointing, thought, but rather pale and juvenile. I believe in this kind of offering you need a singer who's ready to deliver at any cost, threatening he's coming for your soul. In HATCHERY we have Zottel trying to make a vicious man (a mix of Schmier and Bobby "Blitz"?) out of his singing but - I'm afraid - he does not succeed in making his point. I'm pretty sure he shall work harder on the malice of his singing; in songs like "Under One Flag","Nothing" or "Thrash Metal Union" he's quite convincing and fact is he's got the potential to run with the malevolence of the guitar riffs.

I'd propose this album to Thrash Metal aficionados since not many bands are willing to perform raw Thrash Metal in our days (do not even try to mess with the 80s idols...). HATCHERY should be in a check list for enough record labels in interest for powerful Thrash madness. So, thrash till the death...but with some more convincing vocals next time, please.