Artist: Jungle Rot
Country: USA
Label: Unique Leader Records
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2026
Debuting into the international Death Metal scene in 1996, at a moment that hardly anyone still cared about Death Metal, is actually pretty symbolic of how Jungle Rot operates. You could say they went against the grain when they started, recording their first rehearsal in 1992, a moment that most Death Metal bands started to fold or change directions. And this pig-headed nature has always been the most important part of what Jungle Rot has been for almost 35 years now and eventually lead to this new album, ‘Cruel Face Of War’, released earlier this month through Unique Leader Records.
Perhaps it is part of becoming older, but I am increasingly enjoying this sort of bands that do never seem to be bothered by the need to stray into different musical territories and are not deterred by the lack of “real” success. Last month we were happy to embrace a new Vomitory album, a band, while sounding quite different, feel a bit alike in the sense of their work ethos and overall view on their musical formula and career.
In other words, ‘Cruel Face Of War’ is not an album that will leave you in awe, nor will it change the way you listen to Death Metal. In fact, it is an album that sounds just a close to ‘Fuelled By Hate’, their 2004 record, for example. If anything, Jungle Rot is a celebration of the perseverance of a music formula that has been tried and tested over the years and in which the band members just seem to feel most comfortable. Innovation: no. Experiments: no. Maturing: no. Comfortable narrowmindedness: yes, please. That in itself is quite an achievement, especially when looking at the huge list of the changes in personnel over the years – although the line-up is relatively stable the last couple of years. It speaks volumes that the biggest surprise (of sorts) on ‘Cruel Face Of War’ is the unexpected appearance of Benediction’s Dave Ingram on ‘Horrors Vile’, which is placed toward the end of the album.
‘Cruel Face Of War’ is “just” another great example of Jungle Rot being still that grooving and chugging riff-machine. With a couple of tasty, but not all too wicked solos and leads and the rather trademark phat production (Chris Djuricic/Dan Swanö), this is another album that is worth checking out if you were in need for some more Jungle Rot. Of course, it works the other way around too: if you didn’t care for the band before, you can just skip this new album altogether. But whether you enjoy listening to it or not, this band, which has deeply ingrained the motto “strength through perseverance”, is one that deserves respect for that very reason alone.
