Rotfox - Flesh

If you’ve ever the curiosity as to what a zombified, acid spewing fox could do in the industrial scene then newcomer Rotfox is the project for you. Despite that previous statement correlating to only a niche group I can also say that much of the music that Rotfox produces is a joyride through the derelict streets of hardened dark electro, aggrotech, and metallic industrial beats as direct in their debut EP “Flesh”. We receive six tracks of punishing club tracks that are mid-paced; not quite ready to smash up the dancefloor but not ready to make you want to sit down on your ass and do nothing. It’s an ominous slow crawl through sewers and filth alike – just the way I like it. 

To kick off “Flesh” I began with ‘Undeath’. While it isn’t revolutionary for the genre, it’s an equal mix of dark electro club beats and the right amount of industrial harshness – perfect for a local club night or an astounding DJ mix. The title track falls into that category as well though I was hoping for more with the vocals. Rather than trying something new or improving on the formula, Rotfox falls into the age-old formula of distorting their voice to the point it no longer sounds appealing or wonderous, but annoying. The glitchy texture on ‘Skult’ gives the song a factory cut edge, and the moans and samples saying ‘Harder’ in a seductive voice gives this a BDSM undertone – though the pained screams make me feel as if someone forgot to use a safe word.

‘Rupture’ follows Rotfox’s journey in discovering their love of bass music as I’m sure that if this were played loud in my car, my mirrors would shake. I wasn’t too huge a fan of ‘Twinge’ as the the blast beat Rotfox was going for mixed with a minimal, raw background didn’t sound good at all. While I did enjoy the last track on the album, ‘Husk’, there isn’t anything to really write home about it; it’s another dark electro club track that does the job well enough. 

One area where I would like to see improvement on Rotfox’s end is in the mixing; do not get me wrong, however, as the mixing is decent as of right now. But I feel as if there’s still room to make different sounds pop better and be brought out forthright. It’s a very minor complaint and one that disappears with tracks such as ‘Skult’, but then reappear when I start the EP over again and get into ‘Undeath’. 

My introduction to Rotfox has been one of mainly ups and I’m curious to see how the musician evolves in the future. It’s a great start – a damned good one at that – with room for a few improvements here and there. Seven out of ten.