Review: Rotten Casket ‘First Nail In The Casket’ EP
Cheesus Crust! It’s 2022… twenty… twenty-two! It’s not been a brilliant decade for the planet so far what with the pandemic, environmental crisis and general human horribleness but at the very least I get to write my first review of the year for The Sleeping Shaman so it’s not all bad! It’s especially not bad when I get to sink my teeth into the latest Rotten Casket EP of rabid old school death metal from the Netherlands.
Not only is it old school death metal, it’s old school death metal featuring members of Asphyx and Sodom who are just about two of the very finest to annihilate my speaker stack for the past god knows how many years! So when this popped up on the review list, to say I was excited was an understatement. This four-track EP is being released January 21st by killer German label Lycanthropic Chants and it’s available to pre-order now so off you pop!
From the very first second of the record legendary vocalist Martin van Drunen brings the terror with his unique rasped shrieks that are incomparable to anyone else in the genre. Drunen barks four times before the quintet join in the destruction that is Covid-119 with razor sharp riffs from founding member Frank Bergesson and new member Yorck Segatz that are full of twists, turns, and killer hooks. The production on the guitars is also really tight but with this crusty edge that I just love. Actually, the entire production across this EP is killer. I can’t seem to locate the team who did this but hat’s off to whomever you are, you killed it!
old school death metal crossed with a crusty thrash sound will not only hammer the first nail in the casket… but the final one too…
Drunen’s vocals continue across the EP like an absolute assault to the senses, this guy just kills it on whatever he does. This assault is perfectly complimented by the galloping destruction from behind the kit, utilizing the cymbals to create this pounding introduction to each of the four tracks, you’re immediately thrown out of your seat and into the maelstrom of d-beats and crushing drum lines smashed out by Stefan ‘Husky’ Hüskens!
There is so much to like on this EP. Unfortunately, it’s over before it starts but hey! That’s the nature of an EP, but for the nineteen minutes that you do get, you’ll be lucky to make it out alive as Rotten Casket have killed it on here. That old school death metal crossed with a crusty thrash sound will not only hammer the first nail in the casket… but the final one too! Go get measured up for your new coffin folks and listen to Rotten Casket while you do it!
Label: Lycanthropic Chants
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Matt Alexander
