One can think of Grindcore as the last bastion of energy and attitude in the world of Extreme Metal. After all, Grindcore has just as much to do with Punk as with Metal. Bands like NAPALM DEATH, CARCASS, and the late NASUM helped to form this genre, nurture, and plant the seeds for future creative expansion. ROTTEN SOUND has been a mainstay in the genre for decades now. Their latest, "Apocalypse," is a testament to their illustrious discography and a look forward for the band as well. As such, it is an extremely exciting album!

There are a total of eighteen songs on this album. Twenty minutes in length, one could blink and miss it! Such is the way of Grindcore albums, though. While still coloring in the lines, ROTTEN SOUND also manages to expand genre conventions.

The first track, "Pacify," is anything but a peaceful tune. Explosively erupting and providing cues to enable the audience to be further immersed, it is an effective beginning. Blasting away, it is hard to believe the band will be celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year! Sentiment and nostalgia aside, ROTTEN SOUND is still as relevant today as in 1993 when the band formed.

The first break in the action is in the third track, "Sharing," where the band shifts into a visceral breakdown. An important transition, the song's aggressive nature is thus made that much more engrossing. Adding dynamics helps to solidify the peaks and valleys of the album.

The production is pristine if such an adjective is relevant in this case. Simply put, the guitars are razor-sharp, the drums a pummeling percussive bedlam, and the rhythm section steadily holds down the foundation. One has to wonder what modern production would sound like on many of Grindcore's classic records. ROTTEN SOUND is skilled at providing top-shelf Grindcore that is made only that much more savage by the quality of the production.

The eighth track, "Digital Bliss," is another convergence of dynamics. ROTTEN SOUND has become adept at injecting peaks and valleys into the midst of their musical mayhem. Another testament to this is the slow, plodding beginning of the tenth track, "Denialist". These marks of divergence round out the kinetic nature of the album perfectly.

ROTTEN SOUND certainly holds the monopoly on quality Grindcore. A further feature not mentioned above is the fun element. One may not attribute such gratification to music that elicits myriad forms of aggression, but nevertheless, the fun factor is present. This is the album to blast when one needs a cathartic primal scream!