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Rotten Sound is a Finnish grindcore band from
Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),
, formed in 1993. The band comprises vocalist Keijo Niinimaa, guitarist Mika Aalto, bassist Kristian Toivainen, and drummer Sami Latva. The band has released eight studio albums and "earned a reputation for being one of the most intense bands on the Scandinavian death metal/grindcore scene".


History


Formation, ''Under Pressure'' and ''Drain'' (1993–2000)

Rotten Sound was founded by guitarist Mika Aalto in Vaasa, Finland, in 1993. The group started recordings in 1994, releasing the single ''Sick Bastard'' through Genet label. Their subsequent underground releases, between singles and EPs, included 1995's ''Psychotic Veterinarian'' on SOA, 1996's ''Loosin' Face'' on Anomie, and 1997's ''Splitted Alive'' on IDS. Rotten Sound's first full-length album, ''Under Pressure'', was released by Repulse Records (a Spanish label) in 1998 and was followed by ''Drain'' (also on Repulse) in 1999. This album was also the debut of second guitarist Juha Ylikoski. In early 2000, the band signed with American
Necropolis Records Necropolis Records (located in Fremont, California) was a record label founded by Paul Thind in 1993, mainly providing an American home for extreme black metal.
, a subsidiary Deathvomit label for release the EP ''Still Psycho'', which included a cover of
Carcass Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to: *Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc. *Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being *The str ...
's "
Reek of Putrefaction ''Reek of Putrefaction'' is the debut album by British extreme metal band Carcass. It was released by Earache Records in July 1988. Background When released, ''Reek of Putrefaction'' reached No. 6 on the UK Indie Chart, establishing Carcass a ...
". Paul Kott of
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
praised the album saying, "Rotten Sound does a good job, and although the audio production does leave something to be desired, the finished product is well worth listening to for any fan of earlier death metal and more recent grindcore. The video segments are very well-produced, with fantastic live audio recording, multiple camera angles, and good edits." The band toured in Europe to promote the album, along with label mates Hateplow, In Aeturnum and
Malevolent Creation Malevolent Creation is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1987 and later based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The band's original members were rhythm guitarist Phil Fasciana, vocalist Brett Hoffmann, lead guitarist Jim ...
.


''Murderworks'' and ''Exit'' (2001–2005)

Rotten Sound release their second full-length, '' Murderworks'', in 2002. The Allmusic reviewer Alex Henderson stated, "This 2002 release gives the listener no room to breathe; from start to finish, Murderworks is an exercise in sensory assault for the sake of sensory assault." For the album's promotion, the group headline a European tour, titled ''Murdering Europe'', with support of two
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...
bands, Fleshless and Lykathea Aflame. They also toured Europe during June 2003, along with Hateplow and
Debauchery Debauchery may refer to: * Corruption *Libertinism *Lust * Binge drinking * Currency debasement *Debauchery (band), a German death metal band See also *''Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery'', a 1684 closet drama. *LGBT rights in Kuwait ...
. In May 2004, Rotten Sound teamed up with Circle of Dead Children,
Phobia A phobia is an anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected go to great lengths to avo ...
, and Strong Intention for US ''Grind the East Coast'' tour. The band's fourth studio album, ''
Exit Exit(s) may refer to: Architecture and engineering * Door * Portal (architecture), an opening in the walls of a structure * Emergency exit * Overwing exit, a type of emergency exit on an airplane * Exit ramp, a feature of a road interchange ...
'', was recorded at Soundlab studio in
Örebro Örebro ( , ) is the sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
with engineer
Mieszko Talarczyk Mieszko Talarczyk (December 23, 1974 – December 26, 2004) was the lead singer and guitarist of the Swedish grindcore band Nasum, Genocide Superstars, Krigshot and Charles Harfager. Known for his engineering and production abilities, he co- ...
and mastered at the Cutting Room. Shortly after their release, the album peaked at number 22 on the Finnish album charts. In March 2005, the band teamed up with
Disfear Disfear is a Swedish crust punk band that formed in the early 1990s and recorded sporadically over the years. After releasing the albums ''Soul Scars'' in 1995 and '' Everyday Slaughter'' in 1997, the group did not release another album until 20 ...
for a co-headline Scandinavian tour.


''Consume to Contaminate'' and ''Cycles'' (2006-2007)

In January 2006, the band has embarked to European Tour dubbed the "Grind Your Face Off Tour 2006" in support of reissued '' Murderworks'' released on 6 January 2006 The "Grind Your Face Off Tour" extends for four weeks across European along with Sayyadina. They released an eight-song mini-CD ''
Consume to Contaminate ''Consume to Contaminate'' is a 2006 EP by Finnish band Rotten Sound. Upon release, the EP reached second position on the Finnish singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ...
'' on 7 June 2006 via
Spinefarm Records Spinefarm Records is a Finnish independent record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. It is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. History Spinefarm Records was originally founded in 1990 by Riku Pääkkönen as a mail-order distrib ...
. Rotten Sound supported
Malevolent Creation Malevolent Creation is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1987 and later based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The band's original members were rhythm guitarist Phil Fasciana, vocalist Brett Hoffmann, lead guitarist Jim ...
on their European Tour in early 2007. In July 2007, they entered the studio to begin recording their fifth studio album ''Cycles'' which was released on 9 January 2008 via Spinefarm Records. The album was recorded and mixed with Janne Saksa at Kantola and Sound Supreme studios. Mastering was handled by Pelle Henricsson at Tonteknik Studios. The first song "The Effects" was posted on their Myspace page.


''Napalm'' and ''Cursed'' (2009-2011)

In November 2009, the band signed a new record deal with Relapse Records to release their follow-up studio album of ''Cycles''. Keijo Niinimaa commented: Rotten Sound released the ''Napalm'' EP on 30 March 2010 via Relapse Records. It features three new tracks in addition to three Napalm Death covers. Rotten Sound also joined with
Aborted Aborted is a Belgian death metal band formed in 1995 in Waregem. The group currently consists of vocalist, founder and only constant member Sven de Caluwé, guitarist Ian Jekelis, bassist Stefano Franceschini and drummer Ken Bedene. Although t ...
and
The Red Chord The Red Chord is an American metal band from Revere, Massachusetts, formed in 1999. The group comprises vocalist Guy Kozowyk, guitarist/vocalist Mike "Gunface" McKenzie, bassist Greg Weeks and drummer Jon Rice. The band gained a fanbase with its ...
for the "Machines of Grind" tour, a three-week co-headlining European tour. The tour kicked off in mid-April, and included stops at the Neurotic Death Fest and Revolution Fest Open Air. The three bands also co-headlined on several dates throughout the United Kingdom for "Terrorizer Tour-ture", a tour sponsored by Terrorizer Magazine. In December 2010, Rotten Sound announced that their sixth studio album, entitled ''Cursed'', would be released on 15 March 2011 via Relapse Records (except in Finland, where it arrived on 16 March 2011 through Fullsteam Records). It was recorded at Nordic Audio Labs and is lyrically themed around the six curses of mankind. Rotten Sound headlined the "Cursed to Tour" from April to May in Germany. The line up for this month-long tour included
Trap Them Trap Them was an American hardcore punk band formed in Salem, New Hampshire in 2001. They released five studio albums and five EPs, including a split EP with Extreme Noise Terror. History Trap Them began in 2001 as a side-project for Ryan McKe ...
, Gaza, The Kandidate, and Haust. Following this tour, Rotten Sound headed to Japan for the Kabuto Metal Fest. Other acts included
Morbid Angel Morbid Angel is an American death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling ...
and
The Haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...
.


''Species at War'', ''Abuse to Suffer'' and ''Suffer to Abuse'' (2012-present)

In January 2012, Rotten Sound announced the Grind Over Europe Tour 2012. Set to kick off on 24 February in Barcelona, Spain, the band toured through 16 cities over a three-week period with label-mates Exhumed and
powerviolence Powerviolence (sometimes written as power violence) is an extremely dissonant and fast subgenre of hardcore punk which is closely related to thrashcore and grindcore. In contrast with grindcore, which is a "crossover" idiom containing musical ...
group Magrudergrind. Rotten Sound were toured in support of the band's sixth studio album "Cursed," issued in early 2011 via Relapse Records. In November 2012, Rotten Sound signed to
Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pag ...
to a European deal. The band's next EP ''Species at War'', was recorded at Nordic Audio Labs and was mixed and mastered by drummer Sami Latva at Latva Studios and released on 18 January 2013 on CD, etched vinyl, and digital. Keijo Niinimaa says: The band released its seventh studio album, ''Abuse to Suffer'', in 2016. The album contains an audio sample excerpt of
Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...
's 2011 speech at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
entitled ''The New War Against Terror'': "Yeah, they’re rotten. Lot of rotten things in the world. We should be — if we’re serious — we should be concerned with what we do. And what we can do. If there’s an elementary moral truism, that’s it."
Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

The New War Against Terror Noam Chomsky interviewed by various talk participants MIT, October 18, 2001
chomsky.info.


Members

;Current members *Keijo Niinimaa - vocals (1993–present) *Mika Aalto - guitar (1993–present) *Sami Latva – drums (2006–present) *David Kasipovic - bass (2020–present) ;Former members *Masa Kovero – bass (1994) *Ville Väisänen – drums (1994) *
Kai Hahto Kai Hahto (born 31 December 1973 in Vaasa, Finland) is a Finnish musician and drummer. Career Hahto was a member of the grindcore band Rotten Sound. In 2004 Hahto became one of the founders of the band Wintersun and left Rotten Sound later i ...
– drums (1995–2006) *Juha Ylikoski – guitar (1998–2001) *Pekka Ranta – bass (1997–2000) *Mika Häkki – bass (2000–2003) *Toni Pihlaja – bass (2003–2010) *Kristian Toivainen - bass (2010–2020)


Timeline


Discography

;Studio albums *1997 – ''Under Pressure'' (Repulse/Revenge) *1999 – ''Drain'' (Repulse/S.O.A.) *2002 – '' Murderworks'' (Autopsy Stench/Necropolis/
Century Media A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...
/
Relapse In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or r ...
) *2005 – ''
Exit Exit(s) may refer to: Architecture and engineering * Door * Portal (architecture), an opening in the walls of a structure * Emergency exit * Overwing exit, a type of emergency exit on an airplane * Exit ramp, a feature of a road interchange ...
'' (Spinefarm/No Tolerance/Willowtip) *2008 – ''Cycles'' (Spinefarm) *2011 – '' Cursed'' (Relapse) *2016 – ''Abuse to Suffer'' (
Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pag ...
) ;Extended plays *1994 – ''Sick Bastard'' (Genet) *1995 – ''Psychotic Veterinarian'' (S.O.A.) *1996 – ''Loosin' Face'' (Anomie) *2000 – ''Still Psycho'' (
Necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...
/Merciless) *2006 – ''
Consume to Contaminate ''Consume to Contaminate'' is a 2006 EP by Finnish band Rotten Sound. Upon release, the EP reached second position on the Finnish singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ...
'' (
Spinefarm Spinefarm Records is a Finnish independent record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. It is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. History Spinefarm Records was originally founded in 1990 by Riku Pääkkönen as a mail-order distrib ...
/ Power It Up) *2008 – ''Rotten Sound EP'' (
Spinefarm Spinefarm Records is a Finnish independent record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. It is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. History Spinefarm Records was originally founded in 1990 by Riku Pääkkönen as a mail-order distrib ...
) *2010 – ''Napalm'' (
Relapse In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or r ...
) *2013 – ''Species at War'' (
Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pag ...
) *2018 – ''Suffer to Abuse'' (
Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pag ...
) ;Splits *1997 – ''Spitted Alive'' Split with Control Mechanism (I.D.S.) *2001 – ''8 Hours of Lobotomy'' Split with
Unholy Grave Unholy Grave is a Japanese grindcore band that formed in 1993 and are based in the city of Nagoya, Japan. The band got its name from the song "Beyond the Unholy Grave" by the American death metal band Death. Unholy Grave's lyrics mainly focus o ...
(M.C.R.) *2003 – ''Seeds of Hate'' Split with Mastic Scum (Cudgel Agency) ;Singles *2011 – ''Curses'' (Fullsteam Records) ;Compilations *2003 – ''From Crust 'Til Grind'' (Century Media) (Contains tracks from ''Sick Bastard'', ''Psychotic Veterinarin'', ''Loosin' Face'' and ''Still Psycho'') ;DVDs *2004 – ''Murderlive'' (Spinefarm) *2010 – ''Live at Obscene Extreme 2007'' (Relapse)


References


External links

* * * * *
Rotten Sound INTERVIEW
{{Authority control Crust and d-beat groups Grindcore musical groups Deathgrind musical groups Political music groups Finnish death metal musical groups Finnish hardcore punk groups Relapse Records artists Season of Mist artists Musical groups established in 1993 Musical quartets