Back in 1997 I received my first promo pack from Repulse Records. Bundled among the releases was Rotten Sound’s Under Pressure. I found it to be an average release who’s highlight was the impressive range of vocalist Keijo Bagge who sang with a death metal grunt, black metal screech and hardcore yell, blending them almost seamlessly. Two years later it seems as though things have changed only slightly. Keijo relies more on his rushed hardcore yells, which are annoying at best. The drumming of "one of the most talented drummers ever seen", as claimed in the bio, is extremely boring for the most part. The music itself is fairly good, just not enough to keep the drumming from killing it completely. "Alone At Last" is one of the strongest tracks on the album, which is a slow death metal track mixed with a Slayer influenced thrash section midway through. The title track is also thrash-worthy and contains a decent death metal rhythm. "Abusement Park" contains some Max-era Sepultura vocal patterns and rhythms, which makes the song tolerable until drummer Kai Hahto goes into an epileptic fit and hits every piece of his drumkit he possibly can as quickly as he can. The remaining twelve tracks are generic hardcore with blackmetal blast beats and rushed hardcore yells which aren’t even worth listening to. I think Rotten Sound would make a decent death metal band if they put their minds to it, but as far as grind is concerned, they’re not that good. Napalm Death, Terrorizer and Carcass still destroy 99% of the grind material being released today. The band’s hardcore stuff is alright, if you’re into it, but I’d still rather listen to the first two Biohazard albums than listen to Rotten Sound’s stuff. I’m just very unimpressed by this band. Out of 37 songs on their last two albums I only like 7, which isn’t a very good average. If you liked Under Pressure, you’ll more than likely enjoy this one, it’s just not my thing. I’d recommend you pick up Napalm Death’s Scum if you want to hear some good grind or for some insane gore-grind check out Last Days Of Humanity, just avoid Necropolis/Deathvomit’s most recent acquisition Rotten Sound.

Written By: Teufel