Album Review: Rotten Mind – Rat City Dog Boy

Rotten Mind dropping this latest album at the start of  a new decade might be just the thing they were ready for, Rat City Dog Boy being the 4th full length they have released is possibly a defining mix of all that came before, as well as being fresh and new.  Out February 7th on Lovely Records.

Consisting of Jakob Arvidsson (guitar/ vocals), Rune Strömbom (bass), Johan Sverredal (guitar) and Victor Nordin (drums), Rotten Mind were formed in Uppsala, Sweden back in 2015.  So 4 full album releases in 5 years does show a strong commitment to not wasting time in over thinking things and instead letting the sound grow in its own way.

Right from the first few bars your mind heads back to the 70’s with bands like the Vibrators coming to mind, the bands own PR does elude to this and its difficult to argue with it, songs like “City Rats” & “Beat The Street” are perfect examples and there are more, fast melodic punk with all the dark scratchy guitar riffs and snappy 4/4 drumming the songs just bounce along but never lose the street/garage sound either.  Whats not lacking throughout this album is a sense that moving forward musically is always at the forefront, but looking back is just as important as to not lose the history of the band.

 What you do get from the collection of experience that comes from recording 4 albums in such a relatively short time by modern standards, is depth of sound and some wonderfully eclectic moments throughout, you do find yourself moving along track to track wondering what exactly is that underlying sound that claws through the cracks at you, an 80’s goth and post punk influence definitely has you rooting around in the depths of your musical memory and then “Fyrisan” pops up and it all becomes so clear, forget all the obscure band name dropping and cut to the chase, The Cure and Joy Division are the real culprits here. 

The one thing that this album does have spades of is new and fresh sounds, but held together by musical history that should not be forgotten, a wonderful mix of dark street sounds filled with magical moments of melodic brilliance.

If you had to pick out a track that sums up an album this has to be “Not One Of You”, catchy melodic punk, dark interesting Cure like riffs, bass lines that feel like they should be played by Peter Hook and drum beats that make you feel like your at a Theatre Of Hate gig.

The end track “And Now It’s All Gone” seals the package up nicely, an acoustic track that sounds like it has been recorded in a nearby shipping container, but this does shout DIY and isn’t this what its all about.

To Check out the album and connect with Rotten Mind try HERE 

To Buy the album go HERE

Check out a song from the album below