FesterDecay – Reality Rotten To The Core Review

How you feel about this first FesterDecay full-length ultimately comes down to how you feel about two things:

Originality.

And Carcass.

If you’re one of those who demands the former, then it’s very likely that Reality Rotten To The Core isn’t for you, because it absolutely reeks of putrefaction. In some ways, it’s like it was transported from Ritch Bitch Studio-circa-1988 to present-day Japan through a temporal wormhole opened by a malfunctioning vocal effects processor. And then, beyond that, if you’re one of the poor soulless bastards who doesn’t love Carcass… well, there may be no hope for you.

So yes, let’s address the decaying pachyderm in the room: FesterDecay is another entry in the seemingly inexhaustible lineage of Bands Who Sound Like Carcass, this one taking their guttural gross-out cues from the earliest days of that seminal outfit. Like their fellow Japanese gore-merchants in Pharmacist or the Czech masters in Sick Sinus Syndrome, FesterDecay brings the slicing riffs mired in filthy tones, all classic goregrind greatness.

Reality Rotten To The Core opens with the borderline epic ugliness of “Rotten Fester Decay,” reprised here from the 2016 demo in better-produced fashion alongside follow-up / segued tune “Hash The Tongue.” Given now a thicker, stouter, more developed production, both songs are elevated far above their earlier expositions – demos are demos; Reality Rotten is the real deal, wonderfully raw and flesh-ripping as it may, and should, be. Those slicing riffs cut through perfectly, with vocals so low and guttural that they’re almost lost in the mix, a vile vomitous wind blowing across the blastbeats and cutting guitars. Lead guitars burn in and out, always fleeting, divebombing and slurring, then disappearing just as quickly.

The first exhibition of FesterDecay’s subtle sense of grinding groove emerges in this newest version of “Hash The Tongue,” and it’s further displayed in later additions like “Aborticide,” “ and the thrash-tastic quick interlude “Pyschopharmacist.” A few oddball moments poke through – a bouncy riff plus vocal sample in “Disintegration”; a creepy-as-hell seemingly-reversed spoken word intro to “From The Dark Tombs”; hardcore-style barking in “Exposing The Skin Tissue,” and then an almost full-on hardcore intro in closer “Reconstruction Of Malignant Miasma.” And also, there’s a song called “Liquidized Gallbladder,” so… that’s pretty awesome.

The simple fact comes down to this: On Reality Rotten To The Core, as in so many places, it’s about the riff, and the vibe, and the blast. Thankfully, FesterDecay brings all three of those in spades. So many gnarled, biting, thrashy goregrind riffs, built into compact and catchy tunes. So much ugly beauty, between the filth-caked tones and the inhuman vocal. So many blasts, pounding away beneath those riffs, carving into your skull with repeated listens. Five years of refinery, building to this unrefined kickassery, one hell of smash-bang debut record, another goregrind great from the land of the Rising Sun. If you love early Carcass like you should love early Carcass — which means, if you love goregrind — then Reality Rotten To The Core is not so much a no-brainer, as it is a “lots of brains, scattered decoratively across the walls in a lovely pattern, and, yes, 100% yes, you should listen to this often and loudly, all the time” type record.

And if you demand something original, it’s probably singer-songwriter night at a coffee shop nearby. Have fun. Let me know if he plays “Scum’s Karma,” because I bet his version sucks.