Rotgut’s in-lore origin story ties together the occult, humor, and booze, so it makes sense that their upcoming debut EP, 24 oz Cantrip, is lowbrow and crusty. The Seattle group drags Celtic Frost-isms into a basement with a squatter drunk on first-wave thrash music and sees where the night takes them. Yet, despite that image, they are not unpracticed. They have a tight foundation that supersedes their ridiculous premise. No track demonstrates that better than “Return of the Dead Without Eyes,” which we’re premiering today.
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On the surface, “Return of the Dead Without Eyes” is clad in leather, flailing a biker chain above its head while bashing a beer can against its skull. If you told it, for example, that it could use a bit more bass, it’d tell you to fuck yourself. It simply doesn’t care, and thankfully so. What’s interesting is how Rotgut’s shtick elevates “Return of the Dead Without Eyes” from tough guy fodder to being in-on-the-joke. The backstory is that the band is comprised of demons who were accidentally summoned by another drunken demon who was trying to welcome Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, into this realm, and these newly summoned underlings immediately crushed a case of beer. They were then abducted by a “faceless shadow organization” for unclear purposes. So, of course, they’d play bar-ready thrash metal. It’s like they were bred to do so. Even with that premise in mind, “Return of the Dead Without Eyes” still kicks a ton of ass.
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24 oz Cantrip releases June 20.
