ROTTING GRAVE are a Mexican Death Metal band formed in June 2018. The band is formed from members of MORBID MESSIAH, PORTRAIT OF RUIN, HUMAN TRASH, and ICTIOSIS with the thought of forming a death metal band inspired by the horror of the genre from the 90s.

"Horrid Pestilence of Death" is the first release from the band and seemingly serves as a taster for what's to come in the future as it only contains six tracks that add to a total of around 20 minutes. They weren't kidding when they said that they were going for a more 90s death metal horror sound as the tracks provided here did appear very reminiscent to the reeking of filth that you would expect to hear on an early CANNIBAL CORPSE or CARCASS album. Considering the vast landscape of melodic death metal currently dominating the genre, a bit of nostalgia for the old days is pleasant on the ears.

The EP begins with its longest track "Into the Rotten Burial" which is also the only intrumental track which appears on here, and does work well as a welcoming to hell, as it starts off with industrial slaughterhouse noises that instantly remind me of some scenes in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, before tearing into an almost doom metal like riff that just feels like it's slowly tearing the flesh from your bones in the best way possible. The guitar work is great as we have a nice guitar solo in amongst the chaos to keep the listener interested throughout.

We follow through to "Necrossession" which commences in a similar fashion to the intro track, with a slow guitar riff, before tearing into something a bit more designed to cause a bit of whiplash with the headbanging sure to be induced. We also get our first vocals which I enjoyed the variety of as we are blessed with the guttural growling you may expect from a record like this, and also vocals that sound like they came from a black metal album. The next two tracks "Rotting Grave" and "Corpse Profanation" keep the fast-paced brutality going as the time with this record is speeding by and I wish I had more tracks to enjoy. It's here that I notice that the production of the EP is also similar to those bands in the 90s which I think adds to its overall effect as it comes off a lot grimier and gives a feel of a more hellish landscape that does enhance the experience.

"Eaten Alive" is the penultimate track that ultimately ended up being my favourite as the first 30 seconds are just so chaotic and filled with noise that they're destined to open up massive mosh pits whenever the song ends up being played in a live capacity. It just doesn't stop for its near three-minute runtime and is the one that stayed with me after multiple listens. If you listen to just one track from this EP, make sure it's this one.
The final track on offer is "Abhorrent Slayer" and ends up being the shortest track on the EP, so the band decides that this would be the best time to blast the listener with just an absolute wave of blood and guts that I can't help but love. The musicianship is at its best here as the band somehow finds order in this chaos before hitting us with another face-melting guitar solo. A fantastic track to end proceedings and keep the listener wanting more from this up and coming group.

I had a blast with this EP and at only 20 minutes long it is such as easy listen for anyone wanting to check it out. Anyone familiar with the works of the bands I mentioned at the beginning should easily find something to love here and will enjoy having another band to add to the sickening collection. The only other note I do have is that the songs do start to blend in together a little as the sound does remain pretty constant from the second track onwards, but I do think anything else may have spoiled the sound or effect that the band was going for, so keeping to a similar sound was probably for the best. This is a band I'll be keeping my radar open for, and you should too.