Steven Gullotta
The start of this wonderful band showing their industrial metal influences and electronic savagery.
Favorite track: Embrace The Cripple.
At the Heart of the World has emerged from the gloom of the Pacific Northwest to launch an all-out industrial assault against society. Their debut record, ROTTING FORMS, is a powerhouse of crushing riffs, raw synth tones, and the tortured cries of a soul displaced in this nightmarish modern world. Impossibly melding a simplicity of form with devastating sonic magnitude, ATHOTW’s minimalist philosophy only serves to amplify the intensity of their presence. Rotting Forms makes explicit promises to the listener and delivers on every one: purity of sound, clarity of message, and an unstoppable ferocity for every second of its runtime.
Veteran guitarist Danny Porter creates a landscape of crushing riffs, inescapable synth hooks and punishing digital beats akin to Godflesh and the early offerings of Mick Harris’s Scorn, while vocalist Joshua Green snarls out venomous incantations that are equal parts pain, hatred, frustration, and violence, in the vein of late 80s Ministry, or contemporaries like High-Functioning Flesh and Youth Code.
In short, Rotting Forms is the perfect embodiment of At The Heart Of The World’s Mantra… “Only Distortion is Real.”
credits
released January 26, 2018
Produced & engineered by Derek Moree and Danny Porter
Mixed by Derek Moree
Recorded at The Boiler Room, Seattle WA
Mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege , Portland OR
Released digitally and physically by Glory Kid of North America (GKR042)
Such a unique, crushing and yes, catchy record. Having seen them live recently can also attest to the band’s incredible tightness and massive tones. Love this record and this band. rube
A stellar cast of artists put their own shadowy spins on recent Bestial Mouths material—toward the goth club floor or into pure noise. Bandcamp New & Notable May 11, 2021