Style: Nasty ass death/doom
Primary Emotions/Themes: Like being thrown into a pool of putrid filth and sinking down into its fetid depths
Thoughts: As I get older I find it harder and harder to get into death metal. While it used to be my favorite genre, I've grown less fond of it over the years - prefering black metal or more experimental genres than the typically more primitive death metal style. Sometimes though one breaks through and hits that primitive brain just right. Cerebral Rot has done exactly that with their debut album.
Somehow the four dudes on this record have broken through every single issue I have with death metal and delivering a nasty ass slab of old school death metal with a huge helping of doom to boot. Odious Decent into Decay is about as perfect an album title as I can imagine. It describes the sound found on this album to near perfection.
The music sounds like it's decaying. The riffs sound nasty and are reminiscent as if they were recorded in a putrid bog. The production is muddy, thick, and full of filth - in short it's perfect for this type of music. The nasty ass production mixed with the chaotic nature of the riffs - moving sporadically from the slower doom to blast beat driven noisy death metal - already makes this a cut above the competition.
Being able to create a dreary and dank atmosphere is one thing, but you also have to write good songs for that atmosphere to be truly effective. Again, Cerebral Rot answer the call. These riffs, these songs, everything here is excellent. The doom parts of the songs are ominous (listen to the start of Sardonic Repentance... damn that's good), the death metal parts are chaotic and vicious. The way that they two mix together though is where the band excels.
The way that the band transitions from doom to full on death metal is often jarring and violent. One moment the band will be going at slow speeds with deep growls and a funeral bell in the background. The very next instant the band will break out a blast beat and play almost random notes on the guitars. It shouldn't sound good, but god damn son it does. I can't fully describe it in words other than it simply works, and it works exceptionally well.
Cerebral Rot is the exception to nearly every rule I have. I don't normally like old school death metal, these guys rip that to shreds. I don't normally like doom metal, these guys obliterate that. I normally don't like music that has jarring transitions, Cerebral Rot forces them down my throat until I like them. They take everything that I hate and force me to like it, it's just that good.
Written June 21st 2024
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