(Brutal Death Metal) Extremely Rotten - Grotesque Acts of Humanity - 2013, WavPack (iso.wv), lossless

Like Defeated Sanity but actually good, whaaaa? - 82%
Huh, well this is interesting. Apparently, it's only Defeated Sanity who blow at playing what Defeated Sanity play. I had assumed right off the bat after hearing Chapters of Repugnance and Psalms of the Moribund that this sort of semi-technical, old-school-based brutal death metal was a lost cause, but it appears that the problem probably lies mainly in DS flat-out not being very good. Extremely Rotten come all the way from Florida and are situated thousands of miles away from DS's native Germany, but they seem to somehow be pulling off the style in a way that actually sounds good to my ears. Seriously, this is cool stuff.
Grotesque Acts of Humanity is probably consciously setting out from the get-go to be a Defeated Sanity clone, but it's funny, that, because basically everything about their performance trumps the original band hands-down. I think the most important thing here is that the songs don't try to be technical for technicality's sake: whereas Defeated Sanity are almost always tripping over weird segments of syncopation, oddball time signatures and just generally trying to make their music as inaccessible and irritating as possible, Extremely Rotten are - either by choice or by lack of technical skill - a much more simplistic and down-to-earth brutal death metal band. Ultimately, this works in the band's favor: the riffs aren't as muddy and incomprehensible (in fact, the muddiness of the production reminds me of something you'd hear from a more lo-fi slam band, and it works in Extremely Rotten's favor), so their melodies hit harder than the original band's during the faster parts. In addition, their strict adherence to 4/4 and 3/4 time keeps everything flowing smoothly without actually compromising the vibes of the music, as opposed to Defeated Sanity's habit of starting up a riff and then intentionally tripping over it like a horrible game of Guitar QWOP.
Aside from the added bits of appreciated simplicity, this possesses every single piece of songwriting and rhythm that makes Defeated Sanity such a potentially cool band in the first place. The riffs are relentless, super-downtuned beasts that lurch between low and bassy acrobatic tremolo riffs and thick, heavy chugs (all the while being more interesting than DS could ever make them) and are backed by either blast beats that are on the slower side of "fast" (which gives the music a distinct amount of chunkiness) or absurdly fast gravity rolls that explode like a pan full of popcorn. Though the guitar tone sounds practically identical to Defeated Sanity's, their slams seem to have a lot more weight and groove to them, but that may simply be because this band aren't hellbent on making sure the slams are constantly in ⅞/32 time or something equally absurd. The vocals are cool as well; they present themselves in the form of muffled, gravelly monotone Chris Barnes guttural and inhuman croaks, and both styles are just plain good. Unfortunately, they feel a bit buried in the mix, overpowered by the rest of the instruments and struggling to unearth themselves from the mess, but their actual execution is indeed very good.
Apparently when you take Defeated Sanity and dislodge the stick from their ass, you end up with brutal death metal that is not only simpler and less pretentious, but catchy and downright fun to listen to. If you're like me and you never bought into the DS hype that's swept the BDM scene for the past five years, you might as well give Grotesque Acts of Humanity a shot.
- MutantClannfear, July 1st, 2013

Covers
Extremely Rotten - Grotesque Acts of Humanity.cue
Extremely Rotten - Grotesque Acts of Humanity.log
Extremely Rotten - Grotesque Acts of Humanity.wv