Rotting Out

The Wrong Way

There’s a hilarious moment with 30 seconds left on the tune “No Clue,” by Los Angeles old-school hardcore band Rotting Out, where it quickly switches from mid-tempo crossover hardcore similar to early D.R.I. or M.O.D. into a dead ringer for the spazz section of Suicidal Tendencies’ “Institutionalized,” all punky, choppy and serrated. An obvious ode to their hardcore heroes is tagged all over The Wrong Way: the gallopy crossover riffs, funked-out distorted bass (is he slapping? We hope so) and shouted screams about skateboarding, fucking authority and thinking for yourself. The trouble with the crossover and thrash resurgence, with bands like Municipal Waste and This Is Hell leading the charge, is the old-schoolers sometimes shrug it off as retro for sake of being retro, while the new-schoolers just can’t quite understand its relentlessness. Rotting Out might find some common ground in the fast-core of “Blade Of Rust” or the groove-heavy “Stab,” which sounds more like ’00s Warriors than ’80s Cryptic Slaughter.

6131 http://www.6131records.com

“No Clue”