Written By Kevin McSweeney
Ah, grindcore! In what other genre could you rattle through eight whole tracks – enough for a full album – in less than ten minutes, which is shorter than a typical EP?
I remember my first encounter with it when, as a young child, I settled down after school to watch the children’s music show “What’s That Noise?” hosted by the amiable British comedian Craig Charles. It covered pop music, classical music… and Napalm Death.
My only experience of metal up to that point was Iron Maiden and the hair metal bands of the era.
It was the first time I’d ever seen anything like it, and I sat dumbfounded as an early incarnation of the pioneering Brummie band, featuring Lee Dorrian, subsequently of Cathedral, and Bill Steer, who went on to form Carcass, blasted their way through songs that were seconds long, and more brutal than anything I’d ever heard.
Charles made reference to the depth of the political lyrics, and lamented the fact that you couldn’t understand them through Dorrian’s growls. But that was the blueprint: short, fast, abrasive and politically charged.
It is a blueprint from which Rotten Sound do not deviate on their Mass Extinction EP, released on December 12th via Season of Mist. They’re not fucking around with the music so I’m not going to fuck around with the review. To the tracklist!
Check out this weeks recurring series Deep Cuts Metals Hidden Gems, Cannabis Corpes Edition (Season of Mist) for rare, overlooked tracks or unreleased demos.
Recycle
Opening track Recycle explodes immediately into action; no intro, no build up, just brutality from the “B” of the bang, with riffs and beats verging on superhuman speed.
Lyrically, it’s a tirade against the mass-production of plastic packaging. The track slows towards the end of its 69-second run, but only to a pace that most would still consider fairly rapid.
Ride The Future
Ride of The Future continues the ecologically-conscious theme, highlighting the paradox of electric vehicles, and how fossil fuels are used to generate the electricity that power them, as well as the damaging and exploitative process of creating the batteries.
This track is another barrage of lightning-fast riffs and beats, burning out in just 45 seconds.
Gone
Gone reminds me lyrically of the conversation between John Connor and the T-800 in Terminator 2, where John says: “We’re not going to make it, are we? People, I mean.” And the machine responds: “It’s in your nature to destroy yourselves.” That’s it in a nutshell. Musically, it’s 50 seconds of ultra-fast intensity.
Polarized
Polarized laments the adversarial nature of politics, berating those political figures who pander to tribalism, opposing for the sake of opposing, instead of working together for the common good.
Musically, you know the score by now. The call-and-response vocal style is apt for the subject matter, and there’s a superb breakdown on this track.
Brave New World
Brave New World is bleak. There’s no two ways about it. It reminds me of the song of the same name from Jeff Wayne’s War of The Worlds, in which the Artilleryman advocates a future too grim to be palatable for anyone else.
That particular track is over 12 minutes long, which is longer than this entire EP. They go a little more crust punk on this track, with public service broadcast-style spoken word vocals alternating with Keijo Niinimaa’s blood-curdling roars.
Empty Shells
Empty Shells tackles the perils and pitfalls of the world of real estate. We see the emergence of a slick, mid-paced groove in this one, complete with some Cannibal Corpse-style trills, alongside the usual high-speed heaviness.
Idealist
Idealist, the band’s most recent single, sees them urging the titular individual to develop what is known in Ireland as a bit of cop-on; in other words, to see that, despite his best efforts, the world will always be a horrible place and should be acknowledged as such.
They’re not wrong, to be fair. The brief intro sees them beat the drums of war before launching into, well, you guessed it.
The repeated refrain of the chant “Wake up!” is as effective as it is on the Rage Against The Machine song of that name. At a minute and 35 seconds, it’s practically proggy by grindcore standards.
Mass Extinction
But it’s not as long as closing track Mass Extinction, which weighs in at a whopping 1 minute and 58 seconds!
The title track starts, unbelievably, with a slow, doom-metal-type groove. In fact, it’s almost Sabbathy.
It speeds up, but not by much. It’s at odds with the rest of the EP stylistically. The vocals take the form of samples. I have no idea what they’ve sampled, but it’s a change from the norm that brings things to an unnerving close.
And that’s your lot. As their promotional material rightly acknowledges, few extreme bands have enjoyed the longevity of Rotten Sound.
They’ve been grinding away since the early 1990s, and have honed their craft to the point of having mastery of it.
There’s no scuttling around with skiffle or mucking about with mariachi music. You know what they’re going to do and they do it very well.
It’s fast, frenetic and in the words of Skunk Anansie: yes, it’s fucking political. It’s a formula that has served them well for over thirty years. Long may they continue to not fuck around!
Metal Lair Rates Mass Extinction 4 out of 5 devil horns
Read more from this writer: Metal Lair’s Seven Deadly Songs Weekly Series
Recording Lineup:
Keijo Niinimaa — Vocals
Mika Aalto — Guitars
Sami Latva — Drums
Matti Raappana — Bass, Backing Vocals
Tracklist:
1. Recycle (1:09)
2. Ride of the Future (0:45)
3. Gone (0:50)
4. Polarized (1:00)
5. Brave New World (1:21)
6. Empty Shells (1:05)
7. Idealist (1:35)
8. Mass Extinction (1:58)
Full runtime: 09:44
ORDER MASS EXTINCTION HERE
Available Formats:
Digital Download
MCD Digipak
12″ Vinyl Jacket — Black
12″ Coloured Vinyl Jacket — Dark Green
12″ Coloured Vinyl Jacket — Half Copper, Half Black
All music written by Mika Aalto.
All lyrics written by Keijo Niinimaa.
Producer:
Rotten Sound
Recording & Sound Engineer:
Janne Saksa
Recording Studio:
Sound Supreme (Hämeenlinna, Finland) for drums & vocals, Nordic Audio Labs (Karperö, Finland) for guitar & bass.
Mixing:
Jesse Gander at Rain City Studios, Manchester, UK.
Mastering:
Brad Boatright at Audio Siege, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Cover Art:
Xavi Forné / Error Design
(https://www.instagram.com/errordesign/)
Photos:
Mika Aalto
Follow Rotten Sound:
Website: https://rottensound.com/
Bandcamp: http://rottensound.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RottenSoundOfficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rottensoundgrind/
Twitter (X): https://x.com/RottenSound
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4aglyvdJ7ApTfDC6aQ2LFf
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/artist/rotten-sound/71466405
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/artist/75185
Tidal: https://tidal.com/artist/3673376