#TheRottening Seeds Of Death

Band: The Rottening
Title: Seeds of Death
Label: Personal Records
Release date: 05 April 2024
Country: Sweden
Format reviewed: High-Quality Digital Recording 

This is the debut EP by The Rottening, a Swedish band that has a lot to offer, musically. They play Old School Death Metal in a very distinctive “Swedish way”, I mean they can’t deny their roots! These 5 tracks clock around 20 minutes and it’s a short but very intense ride that takes you to the origin of this genre, are you ready for this?

The first song is “Ode to Rot” and it’s a blast from start to finish: pure OSSDM riffs, along with pounding and energetic drums and rotted vocals, it’s a short but very effective way to immerse yourself into Death Metal greatness. The main riff got stuck in my head for hours, and I love how vocals vary from deep growls to a more raspy register. Drums don’t miss a step during the whole track and do an impressive work, both in terms of heaviness and accuracy.

“Starless Void” comes next, and to my surprise I notice a Melodic Death Metal initial riff, and it’s repeated all along the song. Vocals are a step forward in a scale of insanity: from growls to deep roars, how great this is! In the middle of this track a nice melody is played, at first by one guitar and after by the two guitars together, for a short but fantastic moment. The final part is a frenzy, maybe it’s too short, I’d have enjoyed more of this before the song ended.

The third track, “Silence of your God”, starts like a steamroller (I can almost feel the music passing over me and crushing me), and it keeps on growing as the song progresses. And vocals turn from growls to screams towards the end, I really like the vocalist being this versatile. 

“Maleficarum” (it’s Latin for “Of Witches”) has a very dark start, it drags the listener to a place where no light escapes. Must be the secret place where witches used to hide… I like the changes in speed, starting slowly, maintaining a mid pace until the last minute, when it explodes and runs faster, bringing total insanity to you.

And to finish this EP, “Seeds of Death” (the longest track, 5 and a half minutes) delivers a great guitar and bass work, vocals going into really deep growls at times and the consistency of drums that sometimes seem to gallop but are a bit shadowed by guitars, resulting in a strings-driven song with a kind of hypnotic effect. Very good track, in my opinion.

I’ll definitely keep an eye on The Rottening, as they seem to know very well what they are doing in terms of music, and I’m always ready to see how a new band grows and releases more music. For now, this is a great debut. For me, 9/10   Sílvia

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9/10 Epic Storm
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