War Zone

A purely solid album here, even though it's 12 years since its release, I felt compelled to write about this one especially because it's one of their best releases in my opinion. The production quality was a little bland, but the music and vocals are the highlights to this release. They have some pretty heavy songs on here. It's heavier than their new release (2018). I admire the originality in the songwriting category I felt that was their strongest component to making this album listenable. All the songs rock, even if they're only a few minutes in length an a little over 30 minutes in length. They have a lot to offer here.

The music is just captivating and the vocals fit well alongside it. Even the production is well enough to keep this album booming. I liked it the whole way through. They're really great musicians here and they deserve to be recognized even as a death metal band. They have so much to offer and this release was a prime example of them being on the "creative zone." This album is uncompromising in composition and of brutality. It's HEAVY and the vocals augment that. But it's really just the guitars. They seem to overpower everything on the album. They're what to look for in the absolutely innovative creation on here.

I loved this album from start to finish. I'm a true Jungle Rot fan because of what they deliver music-wise. They really know how to tear it about with the moderate tempos as well as the thick guitar. Their groove is absolutely amazing and expect just moderate tempos here. They seem to be the best if they are at moderate speeds. But the vocals were hoarse with some screaming to it. Really admirable album, even though it was 12 year ago in the creation. They were really focused on the groove laden fashion they're just notorious for. There are not many leads on this release but that's OK.

If you have Spotify on your phone or computer or both, this is one older release to check out. The fact that every song was good says a lot about the album. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you're a metal fan and have an open mind to a classic release. They really ripped it up here. I think that if you're a guitarist, you'll find that their riffs aren't overly technical, but innovative. Try this one out even though the production quality was a little bit bland, the music is what to embrace here. True death metal from these icons. Get a copy of it on your digital release or support the band by buying the CD. This is death metal perfection!

Death metal, like any other medium of metallic expression, tends to give off whatever is put into it, and when a format becomes too artificially limited, it loses its pizzazz. Granted, there are a limited number of ways to throw together a primitive, early 90s death metal album, but the right mixture of riffs and the occasional lead detailing can make the difference between a staple of brilliance in "Cause Of Death" and a lackluster attempt at kicking a dead horse a la "Frozen In Time". Jungle Rot is a bit of a different situation as they never had a peak of the magnitidue of Obituary's earliest offerings, nor did they end up sinking as far come the mid 2000s, but if there is an album in the former's catalog that wants for a few things, it's "War Zone".

From a stylistic standpoint, very little has changed about this band since "Slaughter The Weak", but what changes have occurred are quite noticeable given the limited number of ways that this style can be varied. The loss of any real discernible lead guitar input save a couple token layered riffs on "They Gave Their Lives" and "Ambushed" really takes a toll in this band, as changes in feel are few and far between, and the vocal assault of Dave Matrise is largely a one-dimensional grunt fest after the mold of John Tardy and later Six Feet Under era Chris Barnes. The aforementioned songs are generally the best that this has to offer insofar as variation, but much of this amounts to little nuanced swifts in the drumming or a few changed notes.

It's important to stress that this album is by no means a bomb and the songs are listenable, but it just wears a bit thin after the 3rd or 4th song and fails to hold onto the listener. The production values have been stepped up a bit, resulting in a sound that is a good bit more aggressive and approaches the dense heaviness of a number of more brutal acts, though the drums retain their plain and measured presence and avoid the clicking trap of a number of modern acts. Consequently it comes off as a little more exposed, thus grooving semi-thrashers like "Killing Spree" and full out ones like "Decapitated" work quite well, while a few others come off as weak. Interestingly enough, the best songs on here are largely ones written by former band members Jimi Bell and John Harte, indicating that the band might have done well retaining their services, particularly the former given that his solos kept early albums out of the realm of redundancy.

It's difficult to go wrong with Jungle Rot if the intended goal is hearing primitive old school death metal, but there are a couple instances where this band all but degenerates into something along the lines of the African Drum Society, hashing out cliches to the point of losing the edge that makes the style distinct from the later 90s groove metal craze. Bargain hunters should shop low, while fanatics of this style might want to opt for every other Jungle Rot album before looking into this one. This time around G.I. Joe managed to change his army issued socks before getting tropical phagedena.

Remember those early 90s American death metal bands - Obituary, Deicide, (etc.) that played a simplistic style of death metal that seemingly dropped off the face of the earth when Suffocation, Immolation, (etc.) style bands and Black Metal became popular?

Jungle Rot got signed during the midst of that hoopla, and they haven't changed a bit since they got signed; they remain firmly stuck in the early style of early American Death Metal that existed before the attempted intellectualization of extreme metal - the days when bands didn't attempt to sound intelligent by writing half-assed concept albums on ideas they spent a whole five minutes researching. The days when, you know, Latin phrases, obtuse lyrics and slapping random evil-soudning words together wasn't viewed as necessary.

"War Zone" stands as a firm reminder that those early bands had charm for a reason - their sound wasn't cluttered with intros, samples, and keyboards that did nothing to add to the music but gave a tweak to the bands image. No, instead of keyboards and horror movie samples we have a Death Metal album that is dominated by riffs that are a mixture between Obituary and Deicide's 1st and 2nd albums - groove laden with some rather simple, yet incredibly effective, melodies.

The drums aren't bad at all - but they are kept in the backround to show the listener that the emphasis is on the riffs. Amazingly enough blast beats don't dominate the drums - when they appear, they merely emphasize a concurrent theme in the music. The vocals, done in the standard deep cookie monster style, are somewhat weak but the songs are written so they aren't the focus of attention - they just add an extra energy to the music and provide an opportunity for some interesting melodies and rhythms to be played. Again, this release goes back to the old metal standard of the three r's - "Riffs, Riffs, Riffs!"

While this album is - without a doubt - stuck in the early "lowbrow" version of American Death Metal, it still manages to progress the genre to a logical point; this is not a retro band by any means. This is just a band playing a style of music that has fallen out of favor with metal, and this release should prove to those Agalloch loving types that the K.I.S.S. method still has it's place in Metal.

This is a high quality release; all of the songs are quality and the songs actually improve as you progress through the album. It's not "groundbreaking" but the fact that the musicians on display are using such an anachronistic and out of favor style speaks volumes about their integrity and this release just adds gives more credit to their case. The only reason this release doesn't get a higher rating is because, while none of the sogns are weak, some of them could be stronger and because - in this age where Behemoth's death metal releases are being praised and Suffocation is a bigger name in Death Metal than Obituary - this will not be liked by fans who don't like the "old" style of American Death Metal.

Highly recommended for those who like their old Obituary and Deicide records.

Not recommended for the Art Metal kids.