Jungle Rot

Steeped in the blunt yet scathing grooves of early-'90s acts such as Sodom, Unleashed, and Bolt Thrower, Jungle Rot from Kenosha, Wisconsin, fuse old-school thrash metal, death metal, crossover, and crusty punk into a punishing attack. Launched in 1993 with vocalist and guitarist Dave Matrise as the sole enduring member, the band issued their first official release, Slaughter the Weak, through Pulverizer Records in 1998. Later albums sustained the same marriage of battering rhythms and venomous riffs, appearing on Century Media, Napalm, and Victory Records, the last of which delivered the self-titled ninth studio album in 2018 to mark Jungle Rot’s 25-year run.

Emerging from the remains of Illinois thrash outfit Prisoner, the group started as a side venture between Jim Harte and Joe Thomas. After tracking an initial demo they recruited Kenosha guitarist Dave Matrise, who assumed full control by 1994. A follow-up demo, Skin the Living, surfaced in 1995 and drew the ear of Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta, prompting a deal with his Pure Death Records imprint. The label reissued Skin the Living in 1996, then oversaw the band’s proper debut album, Slaughter the Weak, on Pulverizer Records in 1997. The record stirred the extreme-metal underground, bolstered by the band’s ferocious concerts and nonstop touring drive. When Pulverizer folded, Pavement Records quickly reissued Slaughter the Weak the next year, adding a bonus track; that same year the EP Darkness Foretold appeared, packaged with a limited-edition Jungle Rot comic. Amid constant personnel shifts Matrise remained at the helm, securing a contract with Century Media’s Olympic Recordings for the next two albums, Dead and Buried in 2001 and Fueled by Hate in 2004.

In 2005 Matrise added Chicago native James Genenz on bass and Geoff Bub on guitar, forming the lineup that would prove most enduring. An unrelenting tour schedule with peers Goatwhore, Black Dahlia Murder, and Cattle Decapitation preceded 2006’s Warzone on Crash Music. The following year the band moved to Napalm Records for their fifth studio effort, What Horrors Await, released in 2009. Victory Records next issued Kill on Command in 2011. The group maintained a rigorous touring pace across continents and performed the full 2015 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival on the Victory Records stage. Order Shall Prevail that year featured a guest vocal from Soulfly’s Max Cavalera, while the 2018 self-titled Jungle Rot album included an appearance by Destruction frontman Schmier.