While bands like Entombed, The Generals, Calmsite, Six Feet Under and others are sometimes classified as “death ‘n’ roll”, the truth is it’s just death metal with a little groove and some catchy hooks. However, Finland’s Rocking Corpses are here to truly deliver death ‘n’ roll, and a weird but strangely enjoyable sound it is.

Basically, take the simple, catchy riff-driven rock a la AC/DC and The Zodiac Mindwarp, and then throw in some deep Chris Barnes -ish death metal vocals along with some traditional Danzig-y clean vocals (sometimes together, sometimes separate), all wrapped in Zombie/horror themes and there you have it – real Death ‘n’ Roll.

It is, as you’d expect, an odd mix, and it takes some getting used to, but I have to admit- there are some catchy little tunes contained on the aptly titled Rock ‘n’ Rott. The guitars are nice and beefy and the death vocals are plenty deep, even if the clean vocals are a bit off for me. But some of the songs themselves deliver as a whole. After the intro, the first track “Up From The Grave” is pretty much all you need to hear to determine if the rest of the album is worth your ear.

That formula is pretty much adhered to throughout the album; bluesy rock riffs, deep death growls and a clean croon-y chorus. Admittedly, it gets a bit old after awhile, and some of the riffs lose their catchiness. But if you are looking for a mindless, catchy style of metal to play with your windows open and still be a metalhead, you could do worse than “Necropolis,” super groovy “Take a Whiskey,” “Life for a Life,” the rollicking title track, “Necrophiliacs”,  the more uptempo closer “Dead End” (where the clean vocals take a turn into Lemmy territory) and even goofy “925” (the verse sounds like a zombie grunting incoherently in the background comically). And Rock ‘n’ Rott is still a far better option than Six Feet Under‘s take on Back In Black and even though at times it’s just laughable and silly (i.e “In the Dead of the Night”), and feels a bit like a joke or gimmick band,  I could not help myself from tapping my foot to any of the tunes.

Oh and don’t bother looking for this band at metal-archives/Encyclopedia Metallum – they aren’t deemed ‘metal’ enough to be there.

[Visit the band's website]

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