Leave it to Rotten Sound to open their newest album with flies hovering over a decomposing corpse. It has been quite some time since the Finnish grinders have unleashed new material. Their 2013 EP Species at War served as a stop-gap to bridge their latest record with 2011’s LP Cursed, though their following three-year silence almost left the next LP a fleeting thought. Abuse to Suffer, however, reanimates the bloody corpse left behind by Cursed to deliver an expected brain cleaving slice of grind.
Abuse to Suffer sounds like Rotten Sound never left. Bone buzzing guitars, gritty bass, and flurries of d-beats; their tone is precise and familiar. Dissonant riffs drip with distortion and hardcore-punk drum patterns lead crusty onslaughts of chaos. Blistering cacophonies such as “Lazy Asses” and “The Clerk” are hook-less assaults. Splattered with guttural screams about greedy politicians and ailments of survival, they seethe with resentment of the human caste system. Their aural assaults still shapeshift between mid-tempo grooves and uncompromising blasts of grind. Rampant pummeling contorts into a lethargic off-beat riff on “Intellect”, while the head banging hook on “Crooked” crushes bone matter to a pulp. These moments blink with Rotten Sound signature style and dilate the sonic bludgeoning. Even further, songs like “Yellow Pain” or “Time for the Fix” offer a minute of respite. Their uneven placement stains some throbbing, grisly textures.
Where Abuse to Suffer differs from previous efforts is its lack of diversity. Groovy riffs are fewer and some, forgettable. Rotten Sound records thrive on being listened to in one sitting. Morphing tempos and catchy hooks are welcome breezes of stinking air that waft from their record’s rotting caskets. Abuse to Suffer is not as invigorating. A couple sludge and old school death metal influences creep under the record’s skin, bruises left by the vicious abuse; it just does not make the suffering any more enjoyable. Abuse to Suffer is a record which is instantly recognizable to long-term listeners of Rotten Sound and those keen to grind. The record does not surprise, but it slays. It batters the back of your skull and reasserts Rotten Sound’s dominance as a seasoned grind outfit.
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Listen to “Lazy Asses” above; purchase Abuse to Suffer here.
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