Rotten Sound Mass Extinction Review
Rotten Sound
Mass Extinction
Season of Mist
2025
Finland is often cited for groundbreaking and genre-defining death metal. Hell, the term “Finnish death metal” has been a classification since the early 90s. But grindcore has its own dogs in the fight in the country too. We're taking a look at one of the longest-running grind outfits that call the very same place home, Rotten Sound, and their newest 8-song EP, Mass Extinction.
Rotten Sound has been around for three-plus decades. If you are unfamiliar with them, prepare yourselves for short blasts (and I do mean blast beats) of unfiltered grinding anger and aggression, d-beat inspired hardcore punk, Swedish death metal histrionics, and throat-tearing screams. Through it all, their statements are concise and to the point. This 11th EP is a perfect example of that as they belt out the eight songs contained here in just under 10 minutes! This is grindcore, after all, and one of the hallmarks of said genre is the shorter, spastic song lengths. This EP was produced in-house by the band themselves, with recording and sound engineering by Janne Saksa at Sound Supreme (Hämeenlinna, Finland) for drums and vocals, Nordic Audio Labs (Karperö, Finland) for guitar and bass, while mixing was handled by Jesse Gander at Rain City Studios, Manchester, UK, and mastering was handled by Brad Boatright at Audio Siege, Portland, Oregon, USA. The mix has a live feel, with the guitars (Mika Aalto) carrying an up-front, bottom-heavy HM-2 tone; the bass (Matti Raappana) is low, distorted, and present; and the drums (Sami Latva) are chaotic but audible. The vocals (Keijo Niinimaa), while not as up-front as I feel they could be, are also cleanly heard in all of their misanthropic glory.
Lyrically, Rotten Sound never shy away from state-of-the-world addresses, and they tackle many of those topics on Mass Extinction. Their press release states, “Mass Extinction chews through toxic consumerism, labor exploitation, and other plagues on society.” The outlook is not all bleak, though, as “Idealist” bursts forth urging us to wake up behind an absolutely monstrous groove. This is where Rotten Sound excel and are by now exemplary candidates for all things grind. Sure, they are intense, 1000 mph bursts, but they employ enough thrash and mid-tempo breakdowns to vary the approach instead of relying on pure light-speed arrangements. These moments are brief, but they make the songs carry even more weight and impact. My favorite moment for this is the outro to “Empty Shells.”
Mass Extinction (or grindcore as a whole, for that matter) certainly isn't for everyone, but if you like your grind with heavy doses of punk attitude, hardcore swagger, and wearing a denim vest covered in death metal patches with venom and vitriol to spare, then give it a spin and discover why Rotten Sound have had such a hefty shelf life. They are considered legends in their ugly, filthy field, and this EP proves that they have way more creative rounds in the chamber. After all, you're only gonna be out 10 minutes. Ten brutal, ball-peen-hammer-beating minutes, but just ten minutes, nonetheless. Wham bam, grindcore ma'am!
RIYL: NAILS, Wormrot, Napalm Death, Nasum, Misery Index
~TB