Artist: Rotten Tomb
Country: Chile
Label: Nuclear Winter Records
Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP
Year: 2024
Rather shortly after the release of Rotten Tomb’s most recent full-length, the excellent ‘The Relief Of Death’, there is more to enjoy in the form of the first ever vinyl version of ‘Necropolis’, the band’s debut EP from 2017. At the time it was released on both CD and cassette tape by Apocalyptic Productions and Ancestral Terror Records respectively, but until now it wasn’t made available again or on vinyl format. Not only are these early recordings very worthwhile musically, but the band has been getting rave reviews in recent years, so it is only a logical move to revive this EP. And who better to leave that to than Nuclear Winter Records?
The thing that is actually most striking when listening to ‘Necropolis’ is how little this recording differs from ‘The Relief Of Death’, their latest offering. While you can also take such a statement in a negative way, in the case of Rotten Tomb that is certainly not the intention. The band had caught the right spirit early in their career, apparently the quality was there very early on. In conclusion, then, it can definitely be said that ‘Necropolis’, should you not yet have the recordings or would like to get them on vinyl, is worth a blind purchase if you could appreciate Rotten Tomb’s later records.
However, the good observer may also have noticed that this release has a different cover from the 2017 original. That is not the only difference though, as the recordings themselves have also been somewhat polished. What made ‘Necropolis’ such an appealing EP for me in the first place is not only the quality Death Metal but also the dark and somewhat muddy sound these recordings were cast in. For the conservative that I am, the word “remaster” always frightens me a bit, but Dan Lowndes (Cruciamentum and Resonance Sound Studio) has done some work on it with respect for the original.
That means there is nothing in the way of embracing ‘Necropolis’ in this capacity as well. The band also serves you up doomy Death Metal on these early recordings in which musicianship and dynamics take centre stage. The dark, rolling riffs and drums are very similar to the sound Dead Congregation started around the mid 00’s: Death Metal with an ultimate old school feel, sense of gloomy atmosphere and with excellent guitar work. Anyone who has heard Rotten Tomb before will know that we should look for the band in those regions, a kind of Death Metal that is increasingly gaining a hearing and where musicality comes before brutality. It is still free of those crammed walls of sound behind which there is a shocking lack of musical talent. Instead, we get well-crafted songs with enough room for sinister almost Black Sabbath-like riffs and leads to give the whole thing an even more eerie atmosphere.
Now, Nuclear Winter Records has a knack of bringing out the best from the Death Metal scene anyway, but this EP definitely has double the value as it also clearly highlights that with Rotten Tomb we are dealing with a band that came up with such an outstanding (and somewhat overlooked) EP so early in their existence.
