by Cosmo Lee

From a band named Gorerotted, one would expect gore grind in the Cannibal Corpse vein, with bloody, tongue-in-cheek lyrics, cookie monster vocals and blastbeats flying all over the place. Gorerotted’s first two albums, “Mutilated in Minutes” and “Only Tools and Corpses” delivered exactly those goods, with a dual vocal attack that ran low growls and high cackles through a distinctly British sense of humor.

The bands newest, “A New Dawn for the Dead” is, as the title suggests, a new direction for the band. While “Adding Insult to Injury” and “Dead Drunk” are classic Gorerotted sidesplitters, other songs add darker, more personal themes to the blood and guts. The album’s artwork, done by the legendary Mick Kenney (Napalm Death, Anaal Nathrakh), reflects this more serious vibe. The performances are tight and the music is more diverse than ever. Mixed in with speedy grind is heavier, groovier death metal, with tremolo picking, technical runs and Carcass-esque
harmonies. With a clear, powerful production, this album is a major step forward for a band whose first demo was called “Her Gash I Did Slash”.

In between his frequent pub visits, I managed to catch up with The Wilson (bass/vocals).

The song titles on this album are not as lurid as before. Are you guys growing up?
The Wilson: Not a chance. We’re a bunch of bangers and nothing is gonna change that! People sometimes wonder if we’ll ever grow up, and whether we will burn out, but it’s amazing the willpower you get from an alcohol problem and a fiver in your wallet! Seriously though, the song titles have changed slightly, but it’s the same toilet humour as it has always been. Take “Adding Insult to Injury” for example, a true story about our singer Ben, his unholy drug abuse and stinking sluts in London slums that are willing to do pretty much anything for a hit! I think the whole title thing was good, but you don’t wanna overuse an idea so much that it becomes boring, so it’s best to let you ideas develop.

The album artwork features the Living Dead Girls. Can you say more about them, and what was the photo shoot for the album like?
That was a strange day indeed! On one hand, I was hanging out with a bunch of chicks and watching them get naked. On the other hand, I was driving, and everyone else in the band was piss drunk. So after 20 minutes posing to get a group shot, there was always one of us fucking it up, it was a long day I tell you. The girl on the front isn’t from them, she’s just some broad that Mick knows. On the whole, I’m happy with the layout!

The music on this album is a big step up from previous releases. What did you do differently this time?
Nothing different at all, we just wrote songs that we thought sounded good. But I suppose we’re all a year older, been playing as a group that little bit longer, and everything has naturally developed to the next level. That’s what it’s all about, learning from your previous achievements and building on that. Sound wise, we tried to capture some of the energy of our live performance, as so many people comment on that, and I think it turned out great. Too many albums these days sound so clinical, you forget humans are playing these instruments at all. But we’re already working towards the next record, so hopefully we’ll go one stage further again.

With that in mind, how is the British extreme metal scene in general, now that bands like Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower are getting older?
The UK scene is weird. In those days, the metal media was a lot different and more extreme bands like Napalm or Bolt Thrower were on the cover of Kerrang! But nowadays, all the kids are growing up with all the commercial shit, which is fine, but it means less people are forming extreme bands. So it all has a knock on effect. There are some great bands though, like Akercocke or Anaal Nathrakh, so I suppose when great extreme acts do rear their ugly heads from the UK, it’s more of a novelty.

You’ve called yourselves the Motley Crue of death metal. What’s your wildest tour story this year?
Oh man, I swear, I don’t know how we are still alive! I mean, we love our drink and drugs like everyone else, but every time we go on tour or to a festival, one of us always does something stupid, and its always one step worse than the time before. Recently on tour with Decapitated, Ben and Jon decided that while driving at 70mph on the motorway, to take MDMA, get naked, climb up through the back sunroof, crawl across the roof, and come in the front sunroof. This was repeated until they nearly hit a bridge! We get one step closer to death each time, so I don’t know what will happen next tour, and it might be my turn!

(laughs) You portray yourselves as inveterate drinkers and stoners, yet this album is full of technical, precise playing. How much practice does the band really do?
As an individual, I like to practice a lot, but as a group it’s difficult. We all live like 4 hours drive apart, so we will rehearse like once a month, but for 2 full days at a time. We’ve really learned to work with each other, so when we do get together, we seem to be super productive. In between getting drunk that is.

Newer horror movies are often gorier than older ones that rely more on suspense and atmosphere. What do you look for in a horror movie?
I don’t know, I love old and new ones. Like the Dawn of the Dead remake, that will never replace the classic version, but I thought it was a nice take on it. It’s a good point though, because the old ones still seem scary today. New films like “Saw” for example, that’s the business, real intelligent, keeps you guessing, and there’s no happy ending. Brilliant! Still not seen the second one, but it’s on my list.

Your tours take place mainly in Europe. Do you have any plans to tour the US?
Yeah, we’ve pretty much been everywhere in Europe, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, so we wanna break new ground. We don’t have any secured plans yet, but we wanna make it to the US this year coming, but we want the right opportunity. Like get on a really good tour with some bigger bands. Of course we will wanna do the European festival circuit too. Fingers crossed, if we do make it across the pond, make sure you get the beers in!

gorerotted.com

2005 “A New Dawn for the Dead” (Metal Blade)
2004 “Only Tools and Corpses” (Metal Blade)
2002 “Mutilated in Minutes” (Dead Again)