Review Summary: A fun and worthwhile release
British death grind outfit Gorerotted were an exceptional, if slightly overlooked band, turning in three full lengths of furious extreme metal, topped off with a unique sprinkling of their own brand of crude, working class humour. The decision in 2008 to changed their name to simply The Rotted, coming with a shift in band members and musical approach, fortunately did nothing to alter the quality of their craft, with debut album ‘Get Dead Or Die Trying’ providing an exciting blend of grimy punk and relentless death metal.
Stop gap E.P. ‘Anarchogram’ (featuring two new tracks and four cover songs) effectively carries on the formula. Equal parts an demonstration of forthcoming material (or perhaps a reassurance of the bands continued devotion to their style) and an ode to their heroes, the release acts as an enjoyable and exciting display of things to come.
New songs ‘Drink Myself To Death’ and ‘Dawn Of A New Error’ are both rip roaring examples of The Rotted truly nailing their sound. The latter is particularly ferocious, as punk beats are met with tremolo picked guitar lines and rapid power chord patterns before settling into a mammoth groove that calls to mind such death metal giants as Suffocation and Morbid Angel, whereas ‘Drink Myself To Death’ opens with a rather frenzied guitar solo before hailing blast beats upon the listeners, eventually dropping the intensity with a pleasing mid-tempo chug.
The cover tracks remain as faithful to the originals as possible, yet avoid the trap of becoming just redundant rehashes with the sheer ferocity that The Rotted perform them with. Motorheads ‘Iron Fist’ is treated to a reliable yet brutal interpretation, and the same could be said for Entombed classic ‘Out Of Hand’, yet Mayhems ‘Deathcrush’ is given a much tighter and cleaner rendition by the band, something that, along with the production, adds a more full bodied and weightier dimension.
‘Anarchogram’ certainly does nothing new, and those that did not enjoy The Rotted beforehand certainly will not be won over by this release. Having said that, the new tracks snarl and spit with the same venomous execution that the outfit have come to be known for, and the covers act as a pleasant bonus for fans, or indeed extreme metal fans in general, providing an interesting insight into the bands influences and how these have been incorporated into their sound. A fun and worthwhile release.
