Rotten Sound

Finland’s most underrated are back, and this time their new album is licensed in the U.S. by the incredible Willowtip — home to lots of intelligent extreme music. And these guys are no exception, with Exit housing 18 tracks in 28 minutes; typical for Rotten Sound. And typical for the genre in general, said musical hell being extreme grind, of which RS are quickly becoming one of the best in the game. The very nice, clean, crystalline production (care of Nasum’s Mieszko Talarczyk) brings out the high end more than the low, allowing the truly stunning drum work to shine through perfectly. This guy is an octopus behind the kit, playing so fast and throwing in so many limb-defying fills it must be heard to fully comprehend the genius. The rest of the band hold their own just fine, and the lyrics, although English is clearly not their first language, have some thought behind them and tackle social and political issues. Grind barely gets better than this. The only thing preventing me from fully jumping out my window in joy right now is the realisation that the genre seems to be at a standstill. Does this sound any different than the last RS album? Then again, does it matter? No.