Brazilian Death Metallers
ROTBORN released their debut EP
“Genocidal Resolution” past January 28
th 2022 through
Redefining Darkness Records, a too brief two-track EP that does not reach the six-minute mark in length, wasting no time to unload its heavy assault.
In fact, the EP opens with its title track sparing no second.
“Genocidal Resolution” is brutal and relentless from the very beginning. A competent, if pretty straightforward track for this genre. Fast, gritty, sometimes angular riffing; fast drumming and blast beats; animalistic growling. All the elements are here. To cap it off, a nice guitar solo from
Vitor Caricati.
Luis Felipé Salazar’s growls might not have the most unique timbre but he makes it up with a peculiar kind of phrasing.
Much like the previous song,
“Rules Of Manipulation” it is a gritty, brutal, thrashy Death Metal track. The band sounds tighter here, though. Some nasty shredding from
Caricati who flexes his muscles even more than in the opener. Meanwhile,
Nestor Carrera shines throughout with his breakneck speed playing and complex fills, showing off a little bit and with good reason.
“Genocidal Resolution” is a solid effort from
ROTBORN but between its short duration and adherence to genre conventions, it has a hard time distinguishing itself from myriads of other Death Metal bands. Although nothing extremely special, the production should be commended for keeping things clear enough. The mix does not sacrifice clarity for heaviness, but also never loses the edge or grit.
It is clear that this quartet is comprised of very talented players and the band knows their way around the genre. If you want your ears to be blasted off with some good old Death Metal, you could do way worse than
“Genocidal Resolution”! Let’s hope for an even better work next time around, maybe with the help of a full-length duration to fully explore other sides of the band’s sound.
Songwriting: 6
Musicianship: 8
Memorability: 5
Production: 6