Nowadays, Finland is possibly one of the biggest mixed blessings in the metal industry. For every one decent band that comes out of the extreme metal loins of that country, 27 more are anally discharged right into the lime light. Everyday after high school lets out, millions upon millions of small prepubescent fifteen year-olds flock home to their computer monitors for their ritualistic masturbation and Children Of Bodom listening sessions. As they have Follow The Reaper playing in the background, they stare at poorly photoshopped or possibly hand-drawn, furry fan art of Alexi Laiho rimming Nightwish’s Tarja after a bad beer enema. This is what is wrong with the world today, kids!

Naturally, I have become jaded over the years when I see the word "Finnish" coupled with metal. So when I first approached Rotten Sound, I did so with caution. I heard a double package of their Drain and Under Pressure albums and to be honest I found them ho hum. There was nothing too spectacular, but nothing terribly bad either that jumped out at me; it was just mediocre grindcore. Then Murderworks came out. Whoa boy. I apprehensively inserted that CD into my player and leaned back.

"Time for some mediocre grind- The Hell?….. Is this…. Is this Nasum?"

It sounded like a Finnish Nasum and for good reason, too. The now-dearly departed Mieszko Talarczyk helmed the production and even contributed to some of the instrumentation. The grind had been re-invigorated: it was fast, catchy, brutal, and most importantly pretty damn good. Hell, I didn’t fucking care if it sounded like it was rehashing Nasum; it’s still a good thing.

So now we have Exit, the latest from the Finnish grindsters. With the late Mieszko Talarczyk again helming the production, the opening title track holds back its fury to get the listener at the exact moment and then knocks them back like a toddler that stuck a 2-pronged tuning fork into an electrical outlet. From here it goes right into "Burden" and Rotten Sound again rips out with the Nasum worship. The album switches off the appropriate amount of calculated grind, groove, and melody, and can get some excellent songs like the aforementioned "Burden", the harmonious interlude "Slay", and a song called "Western Cancer" that sounds as if it was ripped straight out of Nasum’s Helvete. Actually, nearly every damn song sounds like it was ripped out of Nasum’s Helvete. But fuck, this shit is good. Damn good.

People are probably going to take a stab at the group for the Nasum worship, but fuck it- this shit is still damn good. It wouldn’t hurt the world to have another Nasum-esque band screaming their grind in Scandinavia, and with Mr. Talarczyk’s departure it might be up to these grinders to continue what Nasum and co. started. Buy this CD; at least it isn’t an animalized Alexi Laiho licking the beer shits out of Tarja’s leaking rectum.

Written By: Necro-tron