The Rotted

Get Dead Or Die Trying

Written by: AB on 09/09/2008 15:30:46

Any metalhead that's either A) from Britain or B) likes brutal death metal – and preferably like it with a little gore – should be aware that there once was a band called Gorerotted. Gorerotted was (and still is) one of this writer's favorite goregrind bands, and definitely was the top of the gory pop when it comes to tongue-in-cheek, over the top brutal deathgrind. Especially the band's first two excellent albums showed these qualities, with their third outlet having a slight change of style, moving direction from goregrind to a more death metal oriented sound. Gorerotted is now The Rotted. With this new album, the band has gone all the way, taken the full step away from goregrind to death metal, and even made a name change to prove it (though they are still a humorous bunch, just listen to song titles like "Angel of Meth", "Get Dead Or Die Trying" and "Fear And Loathing In Old London Town"!).

The tempo has been lowered a bit in comparison to their earlier works, but this little beauty still works at fast death metal speeds, changing ever so often into explosive outbursts of lethal doses of audio-assaulting brutality. On top of this, we are also treated to some crunchingly heavy mid tempo parts that call for some simple old school headbanging.

It is obvious that the band still follows their trend of becoming noticeably better musicians from album to album, just listen to the riffs in "It's Like There's A Party In My Mouth (And Everyone's Being Sick)" or "A Return To Insulence", groovy yet intricate, still managing to be heavy as well as complex and interesting. Niceness. Speaking of groovy brutality, everybody who likes to mosh a wee bit every once in a while should give the track "The Howling" or opener "Nothin' But A Nosebleed" a spin or two, I promise you'll be jumping around in no time! It's not only the axe work that's worth mentioning though, drums are mental too, though here the attention is more on speed and brutality than complexity. This doesn't mean it's only mindless blasting though! Vocals have changed too, and that's a shame. Front man and super growler Ben "Goreskin" McCrow – once the owner of one of the most low and absurdly brutal growls in metal – has now moved to a more traditional death metal growl – it is now actually possible to distinguish different words sometimes! The extremely high pitched screams we all know and love from the two first grindfest albums sadly haven't made it back on this album, but Goreskin has a new scream/roar up his sleeve and so shows some nice vocal diversity (both growling AND screaming!)

The biggest surprise on "Get Dead Or Die Trying" is actually the quiet melodic parts (!!!) in some of the songs, especially heard in the two instrumental (!!!) songs, the almost beautiful "A Brief Moment Of Regret" and the quiet and haunting album closer "28 Days Later".

All in all this is a very well done death metal album. Actually, one could say that what I dislike the most about The Rotted is that they are not Gorerotted, but that is just me who's a sucker for goregrind. This is a super death metal album, brutal, heavy, fast, diverse enough to keep you interested, and praise should go to the band for evolving and trying out new things instead of keeping to the tried and tested formula.

8

Download: A Return To Insulence, Get Dead Or Die Trying, The Howling
For the fans of: Gorerotted, Exhumed, brutal death metal
Listen: MySpace
Buy: iTunes

Release Date 30.06.2008
Metal Blade Records

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