ROTTEN SOUND is one of Finland's oldest Metal bands, formed in 1993. They describe their sound as Grindcore/Metal/Punk. This is the band's sixth full-length album, and contains sixteen tracks, with a total running length of 28 minutes. The first five tracks are under two minutes each. The sound established is definitely a cross between traditional Grindcore and Punk, especially when considering the production. "Lazy Asses" for example has a short build up before the all-out attack. It registers quite low on a scale, and the drop-tuning is evident. "Fear of Shadows" however is a bit different in that it has a slower, more grinding pace in the beginning before the chaos. Sometimes the music minus the vocals is so tightly wound that it's tough to really discern a whole lot.

"Time for the Fix" is almost three minutes long, and takes on a more structured sound. The vocals are very deep and hard but they do not overpower the rest of the music. "Brainwashed" is another song with a bit more length behind it. The blast beat drumming is impossibly fast, and definitely one thing about this genre that usually stands out. At times you can hear that Punk rhythm and attitude in this track. "Yellow Pain" is an interesting title. Some people feel emotions with specific colors and perhaps that is the case here. One thing is for sure, a downtrodden and Doomy sound is omnipresent, like someone slowly tearing the knife out of the back. It segues into "Machine," which is just over a minute of mind punishing assault, the energy swinging back to the other side. "The Clerk" opens with spoken word, discussing the rotten things in the world, and elementary moral truisms.

"Inhumane Treatment" swings back to that slow, grinding Death sound with guitar notes so low they threaten to open a new black hole in the universe. "Extortion and Blackmail" closes the album; a nearly five-minute track.  There's a combination of fast and slow passages, as hope fades away in some of the drawn out notes that lead to the fade out in the end, For the style, the album performs well, and you can easily hear the musical result of a band being together for this long in the musicianship. Where I believe it falls is in not challenging the genre boundaries much, and an over reliance on the same low note which the main riffs are based from.