Loosed upon the realm without purpose, grinding their teeth on old bones as the storms of radiated dust erode their ‘ready petrified flesh Gothenburg, Sweden-based death metal trio FILTH arrive upon their debut full-length album conscious of the defeated endpoint of the sub-genre, a husk gnawed of all nutrient. As they go about weaving and tying their remnants into atrophied knots ‘Time to Rot‘ presents as a quasi-primitive act, death metal riddled back to basics which never existed and into tracts of riff which resign to bounding, skittering roach-like dread. The act itself is motoric despite its irregular, sometimes almost moshable appeal wherein going through the motions means flailing in muddy, howling tarantella until possession recedes and their briefly animated husk collapses with finality.

All that I know about Filth is that they’re a trio who’d formed back in 2022. They’d put a two song promo on Bandcamp last year which has since been taken down since it’d contained the first and last song from this new record. Without any context, no provenance to explore and no presence from the band online to imply intent their first impression is non-specific beyond a general ‘new old school’ death metal aesthetic. The combined effect of at least one Grotesque t-shirt in promo photos, a solid logo, and album art from Tomáš of Sněť caught my interest as all signs pointed to primitive, potentially feral death metal. At face value that is what you get here on their debut LP, yet another take on mid-paced death metal with some vague interest in old underground sounds.

At this point terminally obsessed death metal folks could probably guess on sight what Filth sound like when they’re hitting riffs: Slow-scaling tremolo picked shapes create movement between gloomed and galloping pinch harmonic tipped ends, a few hits of doom-death deepen their strikes here and there while the bulk of their catchier chunking is presented in revolving blasted and half-step patternation. Most of ‘Time to Rot‘ is driven by “modern” takes (as in, the post-2010’s movement) on ‘old school’ rhythms where their sound is non-specific to any one 90’s scene and focuses on basic, low-count riffing with a sort of trotted meter to it. Certain aspects of their sound recall the simpler side of earlier 90’s Midwest death metal grooves and the trudging groove of newer Incantation though we ultimately get something closer to Mortuous or Fetid as the slow-hop of opener “Odious Obsession” rallies beyond a dark industrial fade-in.

In fact the most inventive part of ‘Time to Rot‘ is buried, shimmed into the liminal pockets which either introduce or fade several of its pieces. The fade into the opener indicates what eventually becomes the greater atmospheric design of the album, a fluid agent which can be found butted up against or sandwiching every song here by way of synth, a beat, or some kind of studio effect set in between. This goes a long way towards juicing up songs which are oftentimes kinda stock standard in their riffcraft, particularly the title track (“Time to Rot”) which is woefully generic in its press beyond ~2:47 minutes in. The intro to “Flesh Dress” carries that clunking, strained machine sound through as it begins, eventually working toward a few ‘Eroded Thoughts‘-worthy riffs. I’d appreciated how those brief interludes pulled the mind back into a darker place while the songs themselves only really develop deeper-set rhythmic interest in the album’s second half.

The unthinking, zombified roll of “Live in Agony Die in Pain” is where the creeping, nastier side of the band kicks in with at least some conviction and a more rotten, ragged vocal offering carries just enough momentum to push the piece into its gloomier second half. I don’t hear a knack, a unique sound or point of view within Filth‘s work but rather a tentative stringing of decent riffs into a dull-grooved display and while this has its own merit it all blows out the window when sidled next to structure and directive as potent as we find on their late album tracks. “Decrepit Womb” tightens their roll, centering its movement around a couple of simple changes of pace and the aforementioned auld death metal patternation. Closer “Emaciated” hones that atmospheric, grinding sound into a slightly more elaborate series of movements and this is where the most viable action of ‘Time to Rot‘ is to be found, a doomed and sprawling space.

After some considerable time spent with ‘Time to Rot‘ and its all too brief run I’d been left with the sense that Filth rushed this debut LP during a still formative period of ideation and without having put in all that much work toward distinction. While their aesthetic and sound provide references which are clear enough in their style points the songcraft which results is void of statement or personage, anything unique which yet reflects concerted fandom of death metal and its mechanical depth. As a result the listening experience features the most dry part of their musicianship (the riffs) outright yet leaves any additional interest tucked away, leaving very little substance to cling onto. Rather than reading as generic or typical death metal fare it instead lands as unfocused musing with only a few their own ideas shot to the periphery. There is an interesting idea buried within this debut, laced throughout actually, yet their focus on plainest, lax structuring means it blazes past without much impact or spectacle in hand. Sounds cool enough, though, and it isn’t a bad album yet there isn’t much lasting interest fostered within. A moderate recommendation.

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