18/08/2023
Way back in 1990, a quartet by the name of ROT released a demo tape entitled, Diabolus (The Unholy Rot): Demo #1 1990, one of the most strikingly raw and guttural death metal recordings to ever come from the Atlanta scene. That tape has lain obscurity for more than 33 years, existing only as a grainy video buried deep on the Internet.
Today, we are proud to announce the first official vinyl release of Diabolus (The Unholy Rot): Demo #1 1990 on October 6. We have dreamed of releasing this record since before the pandemic and it is now finally happening. The album includes ROT’s original four-song demo EP remastered, along with two previously unreleased cuts, “Baphomet” and “Violent Beast” (rehearsal), as well as a live show from 1991.d
The album also includes a recently unearthed live recording, and an in-depth biography from John Mincemoyer (printed on 11x11 insert), packed with dozens of never-seen-before photos, illustrating the countless hurdles and seemingly insurmountable odds the group faced during their short but fiery existence.
The remastered title track is available to stream now [url=https://borisrecords.bandcamp.com/track/diabolus-the-unholy-rot]here[/url].
The story of ROT is the story of four friends—outsiders—fighting for their lives amid Atlanta’s unforgiving music scene of the late 1980s. Drummer Corey Pallon, guitar player Richard Googe, bass player James Liu, and vocalist, guitar player, and principal songwriter Kevin Cornelius lived in musical, cultural, and geographic isolation. Metal was a rising force amid the Reagan era, but ROT’s musical style looked far beyond what antagonistic audiences in the southeastern United States demanded. ROT drew power from the same down-tuned dirges of Swedish death metal luminaries Entombed, and the concentrated black metal and grindcore riffage of Na**lm Death’s debut album Scum. Cornelius, Pallon, Googe, and Liu played the music that was written in their bones, capturing a portrait of a place, a time, and an attitude, driven by unrelenting darkness. The group’s would-be legendary status was constantly at odds with a litany of socio-political hurdles that came from every direction. They played as though their lives depended on it.
Cornelius progressed quickly on guitar, rising from beginner status to death metal master within just 18 months. Working alongside his bandmates, he wrote and recorded gnarly odes of putrescence during the early gestation period of the grindcore and death metal. He also experimented with a
whispered vocal style that Nuclear Holocaust later made famous with Beherit’s 1991 release Dawn of Satan’s Millennium.
Upon arrival, ROT’s demo cassette, Diabolus (The Unholy Rot), promised great things to come. Songs bearing titles such as “Mutilation of the Christians,” “Pray To Death,” and “Parasitic Withdrawal” were unrelenting in their raw intensity of sound and bleak musical textures.
Pre-order at the [url=https://borisrecords.bandcamp.com/track/diabolus-the-unholy-rot]Boris Records Bandcamp page[/url].
Track Listing:
1 Mutilation of the Christians
2 Pray to Death
3 Parasitic Withdrawal
4 Diabolus_The Unholy Rot
5 Baphomet (unreleased track)
6 Violent Beast (unreleasd rehearsal track)
7 Resurrected (Live)
8 Bludgeoned (Live)
9 Rip the Chapel (Live)
10 Power to Suffer (Live)
12 No Dimension (Live)
11 Imminent Hell (Live)
Mastered by Jessica Thompson Audio
Illustrations: Corey Pallon
Photography: Rodney Thomas Fiore
ROT:
Guitar and Vocals: Kevin Cornelius
Guitar: Richard Googe
Bass: James Liu
Drums: Corey Pallon
