JUNGLE ROT - Jungle Rot

Release date July 20/18 (Victory)

Thirteen years into pounding out thrash-infected death metal, Wisconsin-based Jungle Rot have chosen to self-title their tenth full length release. Going this route has often acted as a warning of a stylistic shift for many bands, but fear not all you longtime Jungle Rotters ... the song definitely remains the same here. For those not in the know, that would be a unique mix of down-tuned death (think Obituary-light), mixed with mid-tempo Slayerisms and straight-up old-school death.

Have to admit that their last album (2015's Order Shall Prevail) somewhat disappointed after the high-quality Terror Regime release from 2013, so I was interested to hear where the band was going this time.

What the band do is take the listener straight to the jungle, beating the crap out of riffs until your brain is left beaten and bewildered, your sorry-ass body left to rot in the oppressive humidity. It's all relatively simple, but damn effective. Pushes an 8, but there's a slight fall-off in quality in the last third of the album.

Note: Includes a commendable, deathified cover of Kreator's 'Terrible Certainty' track, along with a guest vocal from Destruction's Schmier on 'Fearmonger'.

[7.5]