### Jungle Rot: Terror regime

#### 16/05/13 || Smalley

For this latest edition in the “Smalley reviews a rec from a band he’s never heard before” monthly series, I’m actually stubbing the latest effort from a relatively well-respected band, Jungle Rot. And yes, the stubbing means it was my mandatory AA assignment from the May edition, and I’m actually glad I only had to stub this, since I wasn’t too taken with “Terror regime”. Not that I hate it or anything, but some amount of disappointment was still had. First, the good stuff, which includes the band’s solid energy level, decently catchy songwriting, and Dave Matrise’s distinctive growling/the all-around competent performances. Otherwise, I might have complained about Dave’s level of power, as he does sound a bit thin, but with so many anonymous Cookie Monsters out there, I’ll take it. Damning with faint praise or not, it’s still something.

But overall, that amount of compliments, and how they relate to such important aspects, must mean I found “Terror regime” solid at least, correct? Not quite; while, with a different sound, I probably would’ve enjoyed this to some extent, it’s ultimately hampered by one major prob, which is its inappropriately slick production, a production that tries for “rough” surface guitar textures, but still keeps a hi-fi nature at the core. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve liked slick productions before, and I’ve liked rough productions too, and I’ve even liked certain slick-but-still-somehow-rough productions, but that style just doesn’t work here. I don’t know why, it just doesn’t. It’s a negative sonic contradiction for Rot, where they end up defeating themselves on the whole, and execute neither quality very well. Not the right time to have your cake and eat it too, boys. It really is a minor shame, cuz I definitely think I would’ve had some fun with TR otherwise. For your next time around, just keep everything the same way (well, maybe modify the growling a lil’), but try a different production, please!

6/10: Definitely not rotten, but not quite “fresh”, either. Pity.