Ha, I actually have ‘Under Pressure’ the first album by Finns Rotten Sound on CD and just played it and ‘Apocalypse’ back to back. Seriously it sounds like it is about half the speed of the new one, a crusty, grinding and abrasive enough listen for sure but even with the congruence of barked out vocals and churning riffs from founding members Keijo Niinimaa and Mika Aalto, there’s no denying that just over a quarter of a century later they certainly haven’t slowed down, in fact quite the opposite.
Here we get on their eighth album an absolute barrage of no less than 18 tracks flung out in just under 21-minutes! The shortest is just 24s, the longest at 1:57. The album title is apt as this grind bastard shows little in the way of mercy and is nothing short of an oblivion of deliverance in musical form. Naturally the production has evolved in leaps and bounds since the early days making this not only shorter but sharper and more savage in every respect. One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is the political orientation as illustrated by many of the equally compact song-titles such as ‘Equality,’ ‘Empowered’ and ‘Inflation.’ This is and always has been music with a social consequence and you couldn’t have it any other way, jackboot militant thugs and right wingers this ain’t for you so look the other way.
First track ‘Pacify’ sets up the blunt-force trauma turning your brain to mush before your head has even had a chance to register it. When a track gets to double the length such as ‘Sharing’ you can just about take in a bit of a groove amongst the caustic speedy flurries. Drummer Sami Latva gets a chance to slow down but on the whole he is like a man possessed and one wonders how he keeps up with himself. The album is littered with sharp feedback and giving it an immediate done in one-take, warts and all quality but beneath it the technicality shines through and everything is expertly played. Tracks like ‘Renewables’ give Napalm Death’s seminal ‘Scum’ a run for their money and “songs” fly by commanding complete attention in case you miss them. There are things to listen out for amidst the absolute mayhem such as the throaty elongated gargle culminating ‘Digital Bliss’ and the following rattling bass rumble from relative newcomer Matti Raappana on shortest number ‘True And Force.’ He seems to have settled into things even if his feet have had to hit the ground running on his debut album for the band.
Biggest surprise here though is ‘Denialist’ the first half of which rests back into sludgy doom before inevitably exploding. Compared to the at times more relatively laid-back approach of last album ‘Abuse To Suffer,’ this is the only dip into this territory. There’s some high pitched backing yaps from the drummer occasionally flung into the background and a few hefty bellows too but on the whole Keijo, just lets rip and completely antagonises with his rapid-fire delivery. The longest number possibly has several songs worth of material rammed into it, my head simply couldn’t keep up and by the end of the album I felt like a plateful of runny jelly. Masochists and political prisoners could easily be tortured putting the album on repeat and ‘normal’ listeners’ will find themselves drawn back time and again for another jaw dropped to the floor spin before they know it. Personally I find this style excellent for doing the cleaning to and with spring just around the corner it’s going to get it done in double quick time. Perhaps Rotten Sound should set up a sponsorship deal with a brand of furniture polish. Either that or bandage manufacturers as good grief, chances are you are gonna hurt yourself with this one!
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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