The Primitive Glory of ROTTED’s 2019 Demo Dying To Rot

What does extra sound like? Musically talking, the steel bands that we would deem “extreme” most definitely exist primarily within the theory-savvy, million-sweeps-per-second class that tech-death giants like Archspire and Decrepit Start occupy.

Does musical extra all the time have to sound fairly so busy, although? What if the idea of extra exists on a pendulum fairly than a graph, and the choice to create so much together with your music can simply as simply be achieved with the only potential actions? That is all only a very laborious and obnoxious technique to say that steel bands do not have to be Olympic degree shredders to make an enormous musical assertion, and for my cash no band in current reminiscence proves this principle greater than Rotted does.

Some private context earlier than we dive any deeper: the primary time I heard Rotted was the summer time of 2019. My band Undeath had been in its protozoic existence for rather less than a yr and we had been gearing as much as launch our second demo, Sentient Autolysis, which might grow to be a pivotal launch within the trajectory of our band. None of us had any inkling of what was simply past the horizon for us at that time, nevertheless – we had been all swept up in what was occurring throughout us within the realm of demise steel.

Bands had been eschewing polished technicality for a kind of back-to-basics primitivism, fittingly coined “Caveman Demise Steel” by a rising Californian label referred to as Maggot Stomp (and, as so many have forgotten, “Parking Lot Demise Steel” by Encoffinized, one of many earliest Maggot Stomp bands). As longtime followers of demise steel that felt extra blue collar than music faculty, we had been intoxicated by the superb new releases that gave the impression to be dropping daily. Mortal Wound‘s Types of Unreasoning Concern, Gutless‘ Mass Extinction and Malignant Altar‘s Retribution of Jealous Gods obtained continuous adulation in our group chat. Merely put, whereas it is all the time a very good time to be a demise steel fan, this was a very golden period.
Out of all these implausible demos and Eps that soundtracked innumerable drunken evenings, Rotted‘s Dying to Rot was the one we got here again to essentially the most.

It is troublesome for me to take heed to it by means of good headphones today as a result of I am so used to listening to it completely abusive Kyle‘s inventory Astrovan audio system to the purpose that they seemed like they had been going to rattle out of the body. There isn’t any pretense to be discovered on Dying to Rot – no conceptual barrier to entry or vital bona fides required to understand what’s occurring throughout the demo’s 20-minute runtime. The lead riff on opener “Wounds” seems like the very first thing your common demise steel fanatic would try to play after consuming ten Hamms and choosing up a guitar for the very first time. When it runs its course and drops into what seems like a two-step riff submerged in quicksand, it is laborious to not crack a shit-eating grin on the sheer majesty of all of it. That is extra inverted: the demise steel software field tipped over, spilled onto the carpet and displayed in all its crude, mischievous glory.

My specializing in the rudimentary nature of Dying to Rot is not meant to remove from the songwriting chops on show right here. Mastermind Dylan Jones is aware of precisely what he is doing right here and wastes completely no time engaging in it, which is a feat in and of itself when you think about demise steel’s sadly widespread fixation on taking endlessly to get to the purpose. The primary half-time riff on “Liquefied” segues completely right into a bass break that seems like TV static earlier than launching seamlessly into yet one more pit activator. It is inspiring stuff from a real demise steel craftsman and ought to be appreciated as such.

If this demo someway missed your ears throughout the preliminary surge of latest American demise steel bands, do your self a favor and test it out ASAP. You will not be upset.