Rotten Sound - Napalm EP

RottenSpace
Type: CD/DVD
Release: 2010
Label: Relapse

Napalm was my excuse to buy a Rotten Sound t-shirt. I'll admit it. After hearing Napalm Death covers, steadily, for the past 20 years I expected little from this six song EP. I was dead wrong. I'll admit it.

The three new Rotten Sound songs are great. The band is faster than ever before. Their tone is as rotten as ever. And their writing skills have struck a nice balance between the three distinct RxSx incarnations (From Crust Til Grind > Exit > Cycles). "Mindkill" has an obvious Exit sound. "Dead Remains" sounds like one of the better tunes from Cycles. And "Brainload" takes every thing to the next level. It's a solid indication that the new album will place RxSx right back on top of the Grindcore heap. It might even be so good the hipsters think it's "this obscure new band from Finland."

So what about those covers? They fucking slay! Instead of covers we get Rotten Sound Renditions Of Napalm Death Classics. Their tone is far deeper and more distorted than classic NxDx and they made no attempt to hide it. The Kill comes and goes. You will recognize the intro but the rest is a distorted blur. Nick Bullen would be proud. Missing Link, from the greatest grind EP ever made (no hyperbole, all truth) gets proper rendition treatment. And saving the best for last, their take on Suffer The Children blows the original right out of the water.

There is also a DVD taken from their Obscene Extreme show in 2007. No, I'm not ripping it for you. Here's the shirt, courtesy of Relapse.