About twenty years ago, when I started diversifying my taste in metal, I was quite into thrash and death metal, but over time I moved away from it, because the modern genres appealed to me more. However, it’s always kept a steady place in my heart and whenever I’d hear new records of those two genres, I knew exactly why I loved them back then. Long way of saying that I am delighted, and a bit nostalgic, to review today’s record: I Worship Death by Rotten Soil!
The quartet from Trier was formed in mid-2020 and, if it wasn’t clear from the album title, they play death metal, but with a slight twist to it. Quite a few times during these thirty-seven minutes I found small parts that could have been pulled straight from a grindcore song…and it is exactly that blend that got me hooked directly on my first listen. While it appeals to the nostalgia in me, it also slaps a fresh coat of paint on it: win-win.
This specific blend of genres also opens the door to a whole host of different kinds of riffs and ranges from those that are irresistible to not headbang to, to the ones that make you grimace in disgusted approval. On the drumming front, your ears are constantly engaged by the incessent barrage of blast beats and double bass attacks, before being showered in groove-ladden and crushing parts.
With all that instrumental diversity, you might assume that the vocals can take a step back in terms of creativity, but such is not the case here. Many of the eleven songs are dominated by your classic death metal growls, but the vocalist also frequently switches to black metal-esque screeches and on one occasion even uses clean(ish) vocals.
The only minor downside to me is that the record features quite a few interludes from films that somewhat broke my immersion…but from a concept point of view they do make sense.
All in all, Rotten Soil deliver a very solid second album with I Worship Death and I am sure that their music will melt like butter on every death metal fan’s tongue. Be sure to check out their video below and head over to their Facebook page for more information. And last but not least, their record release show will be on Saturday, February 28th at the legendary Lucky’s Luke in Trier, one day after the digital release.