THE ROTTED

It is probably old news by now, but THE ROTTED were previously known as GOREROTTED, the new moniker the result of a style revamping and a greater emphasis on real world horrors rather the splattered-guts fantasies of past efforts. GOREROTTED's sound had been developing over the years anyway from the goregrind of "Mutilated in Minutes" to a catchier version of the same on "Only Tools and Corpses" to the more traditional death metal of "A New Dawn for the Dead". Even on those releases, a distinctly English punk vibe permeated the music and the boys always did have a knack for writing a hook. On "Get Dead or Die Trying", THE ROTTED has written the most well rounded album of the bunch, retaining the death-metal-with-grind center and injecting into it an even snottier punk sensibility. The songwriting is better too.

Best of all, "Get Dead or Die Trying" is one catchy son of a bitch and vocalist Ben McCrow really knows how to drive the patterns home with his abominable growls and grindcore screams (both of which are intelligible). Most every song features a sizeable hook, including the furious, punk-inflected death metal of "Nothin' But a Nosebleed" and the gargantuan stop/start groove and rockin' DM slam of the title track. The latter exemplifies an attention to detail throughout the album, in this case modest touches like the brief twin leads.

Those wondering about the brutality level need not worry, as there is no lack of it on "Get Dead or Die Trying". There are some incredibly heavy riffs and more than a few grindcore blasting moments on the disc. THE ROTTED is at its best when they effortlessly shift from those DM/grindcore moments into crust punk riffing and rhythms, brilliantly demonstrated on "It's Like There's a Party in My Mouth (and everyone's being Sick)" . As for "Angel of Meth", another repulsive little bugger, is anyone else surprised that it has taken this long for a band to come up with that song title? Outstanding!

Wrapping up with the nearly seven-minute instrumental cover of the "28 Days Later" movie theme (originally composed by John Murphy) is fitting, kind of like waking up the next morning and assessing the damage after a massive house party. Three cheers for the act's decision to keep the training running under a new name and giving us "Get Dead or Die Trying".