Hailing from Vaasa, and formed in 1993, ROTTEN SOUND live up to the title of "grindcore kings." ROTTEN SOUND released "Suffer to Abuse" in April of 2018 via Season of Mist. It is not to be mistaken for 2016's release "Abuse to Suffer." Since this is an E.P. and while yes, similarly titled, are these perhaps the leftovers from "Abuse to Suffer?" Aside from the production value slightly changing if you play "Extortion in Blackmail" and then follow it up with "Privileged", you'd swear it came from the same session. Now consider that "Abuse to Suffer" boasts 16 tracks and two bonus tracks for a total of 18. "Suffer to Abuse" holds 7 tracks. So you now have 25 tracks. Go ahead and split that in half, you've got two full albums. So if you really didn't get enough from "Abuse to Suffer", "Suffer to Abuse" will definitely be the finishing satisfaction you've been waiting for.

"Privileged" is like a steak served rare. Plump, juicy, bloody and possessing the ability to turn a subtle human being into a frenzied cannibalistic beast. Distorted, yelling vocals a gnarly de-tuned guitar and cymbals mixed similar to the best garage recording you've ever heard. Raw, dirty, GRIND. What is really worth a mention is as I drove down the street with my window down and "Stressed Mess" was playing. This track has a doom riff played at a somber pace accompanied by time keeping cymbal crashing. Stabbing even slower as the track winds down. I came to a stop light and was side by side with another car with her windows down.

Maybe 20 seconds into "Harvester of Boredom" and she signaled at me so I turned the stereo down and asked what was up. She then said, " how can you listen to that, you cant even understand what he is saying?" While she spoke I couldn't help but overhear the low volume pop music she was listening to. My reply was, "yeah and I cant understand what your guy is saying due to the overuse of an auto tuner." The light turned green, my volume went back up, and I sped away leaving her in the dust of some pounding kick drum action through my subs. Point being. ROTTEN SOUND is so extreme that it empowered a total stranger to gesture and speak of their disliking for it.

In that time it took to have that conversation "Nutrition" was playing. It didn't seem like that much time had passed. That is because the average on these songs sits at about the two-minute mark. Reminded me of good old NAPALM DEATH. "Scum" held 28 songs and none of them hit two minutes. Short. Sweet. Point Delivered. The downside is that in 15 minutes the thrill of the E.P. came to a rather abrupt halt. This is why most stereos, mp3 players, and online playlists have a repeat feature.

It seems as though ROTTEN SOUND put their best foot forward with the first 3 tracks. The others aren't bad, they just kinda lose the momentum and stamina when in comparison. While every track guarantees a sludging walk through a slowed pit like the calm before the storm, I was a little bummed that the last tracks weren't as pristine. Still, even at that level these guys still take the crown for kings of grindcore. Soundwise. It's grindcore folks, it's not going to sound like a high tech mixed and mastered work of clarity and crispness. It sounds like a bunch of mid-range sounds fighting for dominance on a high range speaker. It's dirty and nasty. The way it should be.