Rotten Sound – Suffer To Abuse Review

All new Rotten Sound is always a cause for celebration.

This six-song, twelve-minute EP comes two years after the band’s last full-length, Abuse To Suffer, and it’s clearly titled as that album’s inverse, so it’s difficult not to imagine it as some sort of companion piece. Whether intended as such, or just through the band’s honing in on its strengths, Suffer To Abuse feels and sounds like the logical extension of that earlier album, the next link in the chain. Rotten Sound has long been among modern grindcore’s top purveyors, their blend of relentless blasting with the carving bite of Swedish death metal one of the most distinctive twists upon grindcore’s admittedly limited formula. Though I maintain that Abuse To Suffer wasn’t quite as earth-scorching as 2011’s Cursed, it nevertheless remains a stellar example of modern grinding done properly.

Opening with the midtempo crush of “Priveleged,” Suffer To Abuse wastes little time in laying waste to its surroundings, that first track the wind-up to the left hook that is “Misfits,” a stutter-starting rager that prove indisputably that Rotten Sound has lost no power in their two-year lay-off. The twisting main riff of the brief respite of “Stressed Mess” is another highlight, as that song descends into a nearly death / doom trudge before the whole of Suffer explodes again into “Harvester Of Boredom.” (Rotten Sound vocalist Keijo Niinimaa has been careful to point out that that particular song is not a comment on any of Metallica’s output.) And so Suffer goes, expertly crafted to push and pull, give and take, to build the tension and release it in sub-two-minute explosions of musical violence. By the time the closing track — the one-minute barn-burner “Slaves To Lust” — hits, the ears are primed for this type of violence, and it’s time to start the EP again, and the good news, for fans and band alike, is that you’ll certainly want to.

Rotten Sound remains at the peak of their powers. Critics may argue — and rightfully — that Suffer To Abuse doesn’t really further the band’s sound or break any new ground, but that’s not the point here. This is merely a new Rotten Sound EP, a step removed from the old Rotten Sound LP, and no matter how it’s sliced, both Rotten Sounds are very, very good.

Remember: All new Rotten Sound is always cause for celebration.