Slaughter the Weak

The cover art of Slaughter the Weak is really great. Just look at it. Look at the muddy, dull, washed out colors, just so appropriate for the unspecified Vietnamese location. Look at the eerie reddish, orangish sky, indicating a failing sun. It's a sky that comes straight from what I imagine hell's sky to look like, if it has a sky. In video games, hell appears to have a sky (like in Doom 3), so hell probably has a sky. Look at the dark, disturbingly thick jungle oddly in the distance, and that peculiar tree(?) on the far right side, that looks strangely more like a gigantic mushroom. Look at the logo, which embodies the words JUNGLE and ROT flawlessly, the logo is a rotting jungle. And look at the....ENORMOUS beast-man holding a knife that would give Crocodile Dundee a moment of fright, especially considering all the blood stains that are probably on it. That beast-man dominating the cover (and all the Vietnamese) reminds me inevitably of the infamous Kurtz from Apocalypse Now. You know....before he went totally insane. Hey, our hero(?) adorning the cover of Slaughter the Weak at least still has the good sense to wear his helmet (and some actual army pants). So he's obviously more sane, but I'd imagine Kurtz long lost his helmet when he completely lost his head too. The horror.

Now you may be wondering why I took so much time describing the cover art of an album. Well, I have two reasons: 1) It's Jungle Rot and there isn't much else for me to talk about. 2) More importantly, I haven't encountered a cover art that captures the atmosphere and imagery of the album it adorns quite as well as Slaughter the Weak's cover art does. It truly captures the primitive, brainless frenzy of Slaughter the Weak. After the obligatory jungle thumping intro (somewhat of a Jungle Rot trademark), placed at the beginning of "Left for Dead", the slaughtering of the weak begins.

To describe what Slaughter the Weak is like sonically, it's really very simple. It's perhaps their most simple album in terms of songwriting and structure. There are really only a handful of Jungle Rot modes: Neanderthal chugs (the glory that defines Jungle Rot), faster tremolo sections, slower groove, up-tempo thrash breaks and a rare blast. Later albums got a smidge more fancy by having more sectional variations and transitional sections to those sections, but not here though. A great song to look at as an example would be "Demigorgon" (What the fuck is a Demigorgon btw, I always think of Medusa when I see that song title for some reason), perhaps my favorite song on the album. "Demigorgon" starts out with perhaps the most bad ass groovy chug riff/Cro-Magnon drumbeat tandem EVER. It's so fucking great, and makes me bang my head like a rabid idiot, more so than usual even. A super stupid simple downtuned chugging riff abruptly begins on "Demigorgon", followed by a single kick/snare combo that follows along to the riff. After about 30 seconds or so, the drums break into a violent fill and then go full-out into a straightforward double bass sprint, while the guitars play a frantic, grinding tremolo. Repeat this for the first half of the song, and then during the middle, we get a slower groovy section with the guitars strumming simple chord-like progressions and the drums playing a broken single kick pattern. After this, we get a short up-tempo thrash break, followed by an even shorter blasting section, and then back around again, to the very beginning chug. To put the song structure into caveman musical notation (for all you fellow Neanderthals): cave chug/fast pummeling/cave chug/fast pummeling/cave chug/slower groove/thrash/blast/cave chug. Also, add in some guttural caveman grunts to that, and yeah....that pretty much sums up the style and formula of Slaughter the Weak. Mix and repeat the above in various combinations and boom--you got it in a nutshell. Now you can make music just like Jungle Rot too!

Slaughter the Weak does have a subtle difference to other later Jungle Rot albums that I noticed and thought could be mentioned. There are guitar leads spread throughout the album that add a touch of eerie atmosphere to some of the songs. The leads are often in the background and not easily noticed, but if you listen close enough, they will eventually rear their ugly heads. A gloriously creepy example can be heard in "Demigorgon", about two-thirds into the song during that "slower groove" section I noted, all of a sudden strange, evil sounding leads enter in underneath the caveman groove, and continue on for several seconds, conjuring up memories of the satanic beginning leads to "Hell Awaits" by Slayer. The leads in Slaughter the Weak remind me very much of "Hell Awaits" (and Slayer's legendary guitarists generally) with the dissonant, spindly, unpleasant, jagged and evil melodies piercing through the gory knuckle-dragging groove.

Slaughter the Weak possesses, by as long as the blood trail left behind by our Kurtz-a-like, the most muddy and bassy production in the Jungle Rotalogue. Considering our cover art is as muddy and washed out, the production fits the album overall. Don't get me wrong, the production isn't bad at all, it fits the dumb, groovy, gory music. However, it possibly could have used a touch more life to it, but I would much prefer an album that's slightly underproduced than overproduced (like the later Jungle Rot albums). One thing is certainly clear, this album wasn't a victim of the Loudness War (only the Vietnam War), as I really have to crank this shit up on my stereo to fill up my personal space with sound waves strong enough for my satisfaction. Life is hard.

Overall, Slaughter the Weak is the best Jungle Rot album. It's the most simple, blunt and no-nonsense offering of their warring Neanderthal style of death metal. It's a metal classic and should be heard by all death metal fans. It strips down death metal to the barest, most primitive formula, and by listening to it, you run the risk of turning yourself into a maddened Vietnam war veteran with the thousand-yard stare, looking to strip the skins off of unsuspecting civilians in your local community. So if you've not yet listened to Slaughter the Weak, what the hell are you waiting for? DO IT, just keep the combat knives well out of reach before you do, lest you wake up from your Jungle Rot stupor in Vietnam with disemboweled Vietcong bodies surrounding you and fresh bloody guts dangling from your hand, doubling as a stress ball. Squeeze, squeeze.

Modern man labors under the illusion that he has progressed, pleased at how innovative he has become, and utterly oblivious that with every passing day he becomes a more efficient killer. He scoffs at the barbaric Celts who wore the ears and fingers of their slain enemies as jewelry, and mocks the stalwart Viking for every gruesome mode of death from the bloody eagle to the consumption of an adversary's heart. Yet not much more than 40 years ago he found similar exploits justified in the Far East and either partook in them personally or paid another mercenary to do so under the guise of patriotism via taxation with little complaint. The drums of war are always looming, much like the foreboding ones that introduce and later send off one of the nastier fits of gore obsessed death metal to come out of the 1990s in Jungle Rot's "Slaughter Of The Weak", an album underscoring man's enduring primitive nature with razor sharp precision.

After the ingrained traditions of Cannibal Corpse and Obituary, Jungle Rot pull no punches in offering one of the most morose and utterly barebones approach to horrifying the gentle sensibilities of the masses. There are no fancy tricks to speak of here, no gimmicks apart from the heaviest, nastiest, and most simplistic approach to brutality that existed prior to Suffocation. At times the level of straightforward aggression comes close to the thrashing character of "Scream Bloody Gore", and also maintains a slight semblance of the lead guitar character of that era, though generally being a little less fancy and drawn out as what Cannibal Corpse and Deicide imported from the "Reign In Blood" model. A few stand out songs like "Infectious" and "Consumed In Darkness" even go so far as to flirting with being B-side material from the 1986 proto-death metal classic when considering the riff work independent of the vocals.

At times this album veers slightly towards a grooving character that is, if nothing else, somewhat similar to the earliest work of Six Feet Under, though presented in a nastier way that is more along the lines of early Autopsy. Vocalist Dave Matrise does a very adequate job of mimicking that extremely guttural yet still largely intelligible growl that Chris Barnes trotted out during CC's early days, all the while handling rhythm guitar duties. And this nasty approach suits both the older school death thrashers and the groovier material such as "Butchering Death" and "Demi-Gorgon" which tends to lean a bit closer to the growing trend towards slowing things down without going into doom territory. But more important than any one standout part is the fact that this band functions to near perfection as a collective whole, leaving no loose ends to speak of and being well produced in spite of having modest label backing.

Jungle Rot play up a very different angle on the violence and gore side of the death metal paradigm, largely dwelling upon the less otherworldly depravities of real world butchers while providing a horrific sound that isn't too far removed from the original sound that came to fruition at the close of the 80s and held sway over most of the scene until the mid 90s. They are a more obscure yet somewhat more consistent alternative to Cannibal Corpse, to whom they sound fairly similar, though they vary their formula a bit less on this album and almost flirt with the simplicity of a goregrind band, though they don't resemble the almost tongue-in-cheek extremes that tend to go with it. But if the preference is a gore-obsessed G.I. Joe over an undead cannibal, then Jungle Rot is the brand to go with.

Jungle Rot is one of those rare bands that is able to release the same thing over and over again without progressing their sound one bit, but without ever growing old or stale. If one were to listen to a playlist comprised of tracks from their next two albums, Dead and Buried and Fueled By Hate, without ever having heard either before, the individual would not be able to separate the tracks into two groups because both albums sound exactly the same. Both albums consist entirely of massive, groovy riffs, simplistic drumming, and low-end, guttural vocals with the occasional high-end scream. Neither differ from the other at all, but they are both equally entertaining.

Slaughter the Weak, while not substantially different from it's successors, is unlike them in a few ways. For one, there are a few solos scattered about. While nothing spectacular, they serve to make their respective tracks more memorable. The drumming is also slightly more complex. It's not flashy by any means, but the man behind the kit tends to use more fills and double bass. Production wise, there seems to be less bass. However, this isn't really a problem at all, since for one, this album sounds equally as heavy as its successors, and two, the bass doesn't really do anything but follow the guitars anyway. Overall, it's still Jungle Rot and it's still awesome.

Minor differences aside, the overall idea is the same. Jungle Rot pummels the listener with tons of heavy, groovy riffs and vocals that are brutal without going into annoying, brutal death "sink-drain" territory. The guitarists aren't virtuosos or anything, but they seem to never run out of good riffs. They're astonishing; the majority of these riffs are highly memorable, and there are hardly any stale ones to be found. As stated before, the drumming is slightly more complex than on later releases, but it serves the same purpose: keep the beat while allowing the guitars to hold the spotlight (and that they do, did I mention the riffs are great?). The material present is generally mid-paced, but thrashy parts are not uncommon. Tempo-wise, this is very similar to Obituary.

Generally speaking, Slaughter the Weak is a conventional Jungle Rot release. If you've heard any of the band's other albums, you should have a good idea of what this one sounds like. Fans of straightforward death metal should find this one to be highly enjoyable. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and attempt to sew my head back onto my body.

This album is the epitome of everything I look for in a death metal release. Fast, crunchy guitars, a low tuned, heavy bass, deep bestial growls, and fast rhythmic drum beats. All of these elements fit together to make a masterful display of death metal.

One of the best things about this album is that the band didn't try to go out of the box. Instead, they dug deep to the core of the "box" and created ten tracks of pure death metal excellence. You can tell from the first time you listen to the album, that they are just trying to have fun with the music. Instead of focusing on insane Necrophagist-esque time signatures and guitar work, they went for a fluent, heavy, bang your head kind of vibe that really pays off.

The rhythm of this album is truly the keep to it's success. They are fun, simple, yet odd and original riffs that you can listen to and instinctually bang your head to. Hell, the songs are so fun, you might even find yourself growling along to the track, or even picking up the solo of the track Gore Bag on your air guitar.

I recommend this for any self-respecting metal head who wants to have a good fucking time jamming to some heavy death metal. You won't regret your purchase one bit.

This is without a doubt one of my favorite albums for bread-and-butter listening. You know, the kind you can just throw on at any time and it'll be excellent all the way through. This may seem strange, since Jungle Rot has always been sort of a third-stringer in the American death metal scene, languishing on a number of pretty obscure, uneventful labels (apart from their brief brush with Century Media a few years back), and you're probably never, ever going to find a Jungle Rot album on the 'best of (x year)' list by any metal critic out there. Apparently they can afford an actual tour bus, which amazes the shit out of me, because I've never seen any advertisements anywhere for the HOT NEW JUNGLE ROT RECORD.

Anyway, Jungle Rot has put out the same album five times so far, and this is the second one from 1997, which has been released and re-released by a bunch of different people over the years; my copy is the '98 Pavement version. Since I picked this up for the painfully low price of $6, it's gotten a play at least once every couple days. I like it because Jungle Rot is a walking stereotype of what dumb, mid-'90s groovy death metal sounds like. Your IQ decreases by half a point for every song you listen. It's COMPLETELY FANTASTIC. 'Slaughter The Weak' is beyond any and all criticism of its intelligence, because it's the musical equivalent of a caveman-delivered clubbing. I wonder if the guys from Jungle Rot can even read, because you have to be at least fifty percent Neanderthal to actually release an album like this.

Okay, so this album is about three quarters chug riffs, an eighth tremolo/blasting, and another eighth uptempo thrash breaks. The thrash parts are boring and I ignore them; fortunately, they're signaled by skank beats pretty openly. They're out of place, the band doesn't excel in them, and I like to keep my thrash and my death separate when it's in music like this. The blasting/tremolo parts fair better, but are mostly just used to ratchet up tension for the grooves, so they're not really meant to be paid attention to on their own. The chug riffs, though, are what completely and utterly make this album. Every song here has at least three stupid groove riffs that make you want to punch your mom in the face out of pure awesome. Listen to the opening riff of the first track. I defy you not to headbang or hit something or try to eat your own hand or something along those lines. It's impossible not to. The same thing happens with that retarded sub-Six Feet Under riff halfway through, which is probably the dumbest riff I've ever heard in a death metal album, but it channels dramatic tension so well I can't help but love it. And then, THERE is the riff (you'll know it when you hear it) with the perfect grooving drum accompaniment. There's only one word for a song like 'Left For Dead', and that's sublime. This album is sublime if you love groovy, oldschool death metal.

Now, copy/paste the previous paragraph nine more times and you have a full review of 'Slaughter The Weak'. This is beyond one-dimensional, it's zero-dimensional. This is the least erudite music that I know. It's stupid, STUPID groove death stuff for people who think that Cannibal Corpse is okay, but could use less lyrical subtlety. It's nothing but grunt/chug/thump for a bit over a half hour. This album makes me want to eat babies and dance.