Rotpit contains members from Germany’s Revel in Flesh as well as Sweden’s Wombbath.  Both bands I love, who have not issued a bad album in their discography.  I’m friend’s with Revel in Flesh’s singer Ralf Hauber and we’re always very supportive of one another.  Ralf has a great set of pipes and when he told me about this new band Rotpit he was singing for I could not wait to hear it.  Ralf also does some excellent vocals for Heads For the Dead.  Different style than RIF, but still quite excellent.

Into the Rotpit is the debut recording, a 3 song 12 minute demo, for Rotpit.  The band plays a heavily influenced 90’s era Finnish death metal style, which happens to be one of my favorite styles of death metal.  I always felt some of the early Finnish bands borrowed some Bolt Thrower style of death metal.  Where you have that tank-like rolling and thunderous heaviness, mixed in with some ultra-heavy doom like moments.  When thinking of Bolt Thrower doing that, think of their early songs, like “All That Remains” or “The Shreds of Sanity”.

Rotpit loves to interject those styles on this recording and opener “Darkened” sounds like something Purtenance would record in the early 90’s.  Vintage 90’s speed, a gallop if you will.  The atmosphere is palpitating with the riffs and pounding drums.  Ralf singing in more of a 90’s era tone.  He really emulates the style perfectly.  The galloping moments are so damn vintage it gives the recording a true organic heaviness as it’s like if they recorded this live.  It’s that great.  The 3.10 slow down is pure atmosphere with the cymbal hits and then how the song gets into a slower/doomier/emotive moment.

“Into the Rotpit” starts with a great opening growl and then the song gets into a Bolt Thrower rolling heaviness before the signature galloping beat comes in with organic double bass drums.  The 58 second beginning part of the song has a jumpy heaviness that is very beatdown worthy.  So damn heavy.  The double bass drums over the riffing, on this particular moment, screams 1991!  Some eerie guitar melodies and ethereal guitar soloing really captures your attention.  That beatdown heavy part comes back and it’s so killer.  The rolling drums and the guitar riff is dense yet still discernible.  Ralf barking like a madman and I sing along to the chorus every time I hear this.  It’s excellent

“Aeon Black”, at over 5 minutes, ends the recording and is old school Finnish death metal at its finest.  So heavy, so crusty and filthy before the abrupt old school blast beats. The parts are meant to sound primitive, but still no less professional.  Heavy, then back to the atmospheric doom/death, parts, then erupting back into the blast beats.  The simple, yet effective cymbal hits, are mixed in nicely, as to take notice, once the fast part erupts.  Then the tune meanders into a rolling, tank-tread heaviness moment before some well-placed pinch harmonics hit you upside the head.  The song gets right back into that plodding and monolithically heavy slow down, that will cause sinkholes from here to the Ukraine.  Great drums towards the end with guitar feedback, then more atmospheric doom death heaviness.  The ending part sounds like something off of Paradise Lost’s awesome Gothic album, and then the song ends.

Rotpit have something going with Into the Rotpit.  There are bands doing this style already, who are from Finland-I’m looking at you Desecresy, whom I love and does this style the best, but outside of them, Purtenance, and maybe a few small others, I really have not heard a band as effective as Rotpit.  This is well-produced.  Dirty, crusty, filthy and gnarly.  It’s the way death metal was meant to be played.  Organic, heavy and just in your face with the rawness.  The scene has so many sub genres, and I love all the varying styles and new bands, don’t get me wrong.  However, death metal, at its purest form, was always the adjectives I listed above and sometimes that essence is forgotten, which is a shame.  So Rotpit-many thanks for bringing this form and style back.  I love it and this demo is the best demo of 2021!

[Visit the band's website]

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