I believe that every Extreme Metal band should, at some point in their career, honour the legends that laid the foundation for the genres they play. As such, Romanian Death Metal act Putred, alongside their rotten Death Metal friends from the same country, Rotheads, decided to pay homage to the legendary Slaughter from Canada, band often credited for influencing the genesis of Death Metal.
One thing that I loved from the first listen was the fact that even though the original Slaughter vocals are somewhat raspy, shouted, pretty far from the growls we know today, Putred didn’t hesitate to add their own brutal touch with vocals delivered by three of their members, in their own style. Rotheads also do things a bit different, but closer to the original recordings.
The guitars are sharp like chainsaws and the drumming is either slow and steady or fast and aggressive.
The production is more on the raw side (but not to the point where you cannot tell the instruments apart), you can see what the bands were going for when recording: tough and uncompromising, but still heavy. One thing that I really enjoy is the fact that the instruments are often not 100% on time, going for a sloppier execution on some passages. Some may say that this means poor musicianship or that the bands didn’t rehearse enough with a metronome but I think this is good, because we find ourselves in a time were too many bands overproduce their material until it sounds like it’s programmed. These guys like to keep the human element to sound more natural.
Overall, both Putred and Rotheads did an excellent job in honouring Slaughter on this split, They executed the covers they chose in a great way and I really think that if you would like to see a newer take on some classic songs that lay at the foundation of the genre, you should definitely check ‘Tales Of The Macabre’.
