Rot Fester’s debut EP – 2024’s ‘Condone Or Condemn’ presented eighteen minutes’ worth of old school death metal fury. With the bulk of the material adopting a bass heavy approach coupled with a guttural roar, the Swedish duo were certainly heavy, but the sludgy tone of the recording ensured they didn’t just sound like they were casually retreading a traditonal death metal path.

A year on, and ‘Death Row’ presents Michael Lang (rhythm guitar/bass) and Daniel Tjernberg in an even agrier mood. The band’s title song (‘Rot Fester’) opens with a sludgy bass sharing a couple of doom-laden notes, presenting an already uncompromising tone, before guesting drummer Micco Rullyanto explodes with a frenzy of pneumatic beats, bringing forth classic influences from Death Angel and Suffocation. The distinctive Rot Fester tones hold firm, thanks to the sludgy bass tones lurking beneath some shrill rhythm guitar work, but also via the vocal, since Daniel favours a deep growl over the more run of the mill death grunts that would normally dominate such a work. The rhythm shifts between fast and faster still, depending on whether the vocal or the grinding guitar lines are at the forefront, but with a few hardcore shouts peppering a simple chorus hook, there’s just enough variation within the extreme metal elements to give an actual song room to breath. For a DIY recording, everything here is pretty smart, but things really spring into life when lead guitarist Henke Frost steps forth with an absolute fretboard melter of a solo, in keeping with the genre’s 80s forefathers. If you make it through these three minutes unscathed – and more importantly, enjoy what you hear – then the rest of this EP will sound absolutely immense.

Moving swiftly into ‘Prisoner of War’, things briefly lighten up with the help of a lengthy intro where the band trades in their pure death sound for a fantastic thrash-death blend. The opening riffs share a great amount of love for classic Slayer with their sharp edge and fast tempo, before things speed up futher still, but a great melody is retained, thanks to a very 80s sounding twin lead. Aware that things might have drifted a little, an abrasive vocal returns and Daniel reaches for the lowest register possible, contrasting the thrash with a doom tinged death grunt that provides a very strong link with the previous number. At just over a minute in, things slow enough to tease with a dirty grind via the guitar, which has the knock on effect of making the thrash that drives the second verse seem even tighter. With a touch of doom peppering a pleasingly heavy chorus and a middle eight accentuating some fantastic drumming before a brief lead guitar break delivers a great tone, this leaves nothing to chance before stopping dead. Although it lacks a huge climax, everything else about this number is perfect for the style – and certainly impressive enough to make this the EP’s stand out track.

Another Slayer-esque intro on ‘No Place, No Voice’ suggests Rot Fester are in danger of repeating themselves, but the swift arrival of a clean, soaring lead guitar gives the track a different feel. Even when the semi-melodic edge gives way to speed oriented soloing, the tone is such that this continues to feel a little different. Eventually dropping into the expected pneumatics, the next three minutes showcase a tight as hell band, with some of the best rhythm guitar work on a Rot recording to date. In some ways, it’s a pity that the death infused vocal will stop the flawless death-thrash fusion reaching a broader audience, and this becomes even more apparent when Henke arrives with another impressive solo, but the band won’t likely be too worried. As it is, this already comes with a confidence that’ll win over a raft of death devotees, assuming word of mouth can spread far enough.

Reintroducing the deeper rhythm guitar sound, the title cut comes with a slightly sludgier feel all round, but the more ominous tone is a great fit for one of the band’s heavier grooves. In addition, the track’s chorus vocals reach for something a little more threatening, providing more of a trad death quality at the heart of the track. It might be tonally different, but it isn’t necessarily a huge musical leap into the unknown: as before, the pneumatics dominate, and Michael’s rhythm guitar work is powered by an extreme edge, making the first half of this track pleasingly intense. The middle eight allows for a small amount of respite when the pneumatics give way to more of a stomp, but the heaviness remains, before the lengthier ‘Another Storm Brewing’ abandons all death metal tropes in favour of some perfect doom/sludge, filling the best part of five minutes with a slow and heavy chug that really brings out the band’s sense of power. Granted, most of the vocals are still death infused, so there’s no fear of this sounding out too of place, but with a broader, heavier approach, the listener will certainly get the feeling that Rot Fester have the potential to become even greater.

With four slabs of uncompromising old school death metal peppered with a couple of interesting twists – occasionally melodic, but often just as brutal as the material’s core sound dictates – and a perfect piece of doom, ‘Death Row’ absolutely slays. For those who feel that parts of the Swedish death scene have become too broad sounding with their influences from post rock, melodic metal and prog metal – Rot Fester’s inherent desire to bring the genre much closer to its primal roots will certainly strike a chord.

October 2025