Ritualized into enduring symbolic acts to the point that the very walls of every institution reek of ancient morbidity fear-based perceptions of death may appear as purposeful superstition of a fading mystic cult, or, symptoms of greater biology manifested but in either case the outcome is avoidance rather than confrontation. In the midst of this additionally defining third full-length album Iquique, Chile-based death metal quartet ROTTEN TOMB question cultural attitudes, traditions and behaviors pertaining to death in shaping a narrative around what remains when collective rituals fail and nihil sustains. ‘Vestiges of Tortured Souls‘ illustrates a realm of terror potentially cleansed by introspection mounted in confrontation of death, encouraging the listener to embrace mortality as a point of spiritual and rational alignment. Yet one of the finest pure death metal bands in existence today, here they’ve supported this perceived theme with wrathful, damning sounds steeled by better-entwined doomed and melodic notions.

Rotten Tomb have been active for a decade at this point, forming circa 2016 via folks known for past and present station in death-thrashers Atomicide. Their work has been consistently above-average from inception, steadfastly focused on pure death metal defined by overwhelming atmosphere, wrathful ‘old school’ style and lyrics borne from morbid introspection. In practicum their sound is characterized by a wall of roaring monstrosity informed by United States and Scandinavian death metal; When I placed the band’s 2022 debut album (‘Visions of a Dismal Fate‘) at #1 on my 100 Best of the Year I’d described it as something like ‘The Karelian Isthmus‘ meets ‘Dawn of Possession‘, while likewise referring to the guttural semi-melodic style of Gorement. It’d made sense to point to everything from (early) Incantation and Demigod to Grave Miasma as they’d iterated within their second LP, ‘The Relief of Death‘, (my #8 pick for the Top 50 of 2024) a release that’d reinforced my own fandom while proving their debut wasn’t a fluke.

Album number three iterates upon and refines qualities featured on Rotten Tomb‘s first two albums, pulling back into the sonic overwhelm of their debut and its organically writhing sound design (via Pablo Clares at DM6 Recording Studio) while simultaneously developing the melodic aspect of their concoct. Most of these traits hit within opener “Horror Manifestations”, a roaring earthmover from its first second which only pauses for the sake of a solo or two beyond its first minute. This sets precedence for the bulldoze through the whole thing. Rather than stoke contrast within their compositions on a riff-by-riff basis they’ve suggested the intent is to better sew together riffcraft into fluid, or at least better cohesive features and while this is evident within the familiar rush of the opener the couple of songs which follow elucidate.

Sharpened aggression is only one step taken toward actualization here as Rotten Tomb‘s sense of self grows within oppressive, suffocating atmospheric heave, intending to illustrate the emotions and rituals surrounding death as overwhelming in their influence upon culture. This makes for intentionally dense and wrathful songs which’re often themed around questioning of death’s place in civilization as systemic control (re: religious fearmongering) alongside other side-effects of collective morbidity which might steer the mind away from honest examination rather than confrontation. Late album anchor “Here Lies Death” explores this subject through a series of dualities examined while taking on more of the doomed spectrum of their work, an example of thematic tension merging with their composition without interrupting the frothing-at-the-mouth assail of the whole deal.

Speaking of frothing at the mouth vocalist/guitarist Deathbringer‘s performances here are more layered and ghastly than ever, not only serving an important part of Rotten Tomb‘s signature hulk but also reinforcing the sometimes militant pulse of their movement with his monstrous cadence. This creates an omnipresent, only sometimes dynamic force within ‘Vestiges of Tortured Souls‘ and is especially noticeable on Side A as things warm within pieces like “Condemned Reality”, one of my favorite of the lot when taken riff-after-riff. Towards the end of the first half “Waiting, Dying” allows a bit more breathing room in terms of frontman energy but I’d generally appreciated how the whole band moved together as a thunderous force as they put their aggressive vernacular to task. Though the quartet’ve not gone wholly melodic or dug into death/doom in full on this album you’ll begin to feel those aspects dotting the landscape more heavily this time around despite a somewhat samey violent haul informing most movements.

Existing within similar rhythmus while avoiding too many outright interruptive features in their work means Rotten Tomb achieve a fluid glom here rather than outright variety. Some of the full listen should bleed together in ear naturally while much of it relies upon pacing and escalation via certain expressive turns-taken to provide nuance. “Mortified” for example races beyond its first minute toward a more melodic Finndeath dirge, clipping right out of it as quickly as possible, in creating a waveform which is hardly spastic but able to break up the echoic wrath of the surrounding passages with a relatively simple contrasting gesture. In this way those points of slickened press between harried, voluminous aggression and moments of pause will most readily feature as finer pieces on ‘Vestiges of Tortured Souls‘. They don’t offer too many points for the listener to gasp for air but when they do guitar solos typically fly.

The aforementioned “Here Lies Death” is an obvious highlight but I think for my own taste when Rotten Tomb veer closer to doomed out movements such as those in the first half of “Ancestral Preservation” (closer “Hyman Pyre”, too) their approach floors me most. In the context of ramping intensity within Side B it features one of the more active riff counts of any song on ‘Vestiges of Tortured Souls‘ and should naturally stand out to some degree, though at this point we can begin to identify fairly predictive placement of transitional movement within the band’s songcraft. This shouldn’t bother longtime ‘old school’ death metal listeners and generally reinforces the contained modus the band’ve deployed within each of their full-lengths where all is related and nothing is set out of place.

This third album from Rotten Tomb rightfully yanks the listener deeper into their own (now) well-defined realm and modus without muddying the waters with any sort of step outside of themselves. In my experience this sort of consistency typically avoids diminishing returns by way of expectations set as they continue to refine their still amazing out-the-gates debut into increasingly thoughtful theme and carefully wrought pure death metal application. If you are the sort of fan who seeks catchier or spastic off-subject work you will only find a better version of this band here rather than a wildly evolved or deleterious creature. It is exactly what I’d wanted to drop into as a fan and that leaves me without any too-serious criticism to launch here. Even more melody and more doom couldn’t hurt but ‘Vestiges of Tortured Souls‘ is already working within a brilliant ideal. A very high recommendation.

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