Rotten Sound is all about grindcore. "Species of War" is the definite example of a grindcore quickie: it's six songs which run for eight minutes in total. Yes, this EP doesn't waste any time saying what it wants to without sugarcoating the listener in wasted space, and that's a beautiful thing. The six slabs are concrete staples of ravenous grindcore, churning through an endless onslaught of pulverizing violence and bloodthirsty madness. Most of the tracks are blurry tunes vomiting blitzing riffs and blast beats that dash through the sound barrier while Keijo Niinimaa shrieks and growls into Rotten Sound's cluster of death. It's quite an intense experience. I, in fact, lost my shoes many times.

Originality, not a big factor in grindcore, isn't relevant throughout "Species of War," but after three songs it doesn't matter; everything is a total mess of gore. "The Game," "The Solution," and "Salvation" all implement groovy breakdowns which seemingly come from nowhere and just crush with their gigantic heaviness. The other tunes are standard carnivals of insane blast beats and rapid riffing in the vein of Nasum, Lock Up, Napalm Death, insert other grindcore bands here. The EP's production, however, is easily its finest quality: it has that buzzing guitar distortion akin to old-school Swedish death metal, and should be enough to make any fan of extreme music jump gleefully into the pit.

You know what? Sometimes, life calls for a grindcore bludgeoning that isn't going to screw around with a bunch of needless junk. Sometimes, life calls for a storm of blast beats and mincing riffs. Sometimes, life calls for eight minutes in a tornado of insanity. And that's why Satan created Rotten Sound and "Species of War," because these things are fun, and Rotten Sound has the right idea. If it takes seven minutes to reach heaven, eight minutes of Rotten Sound is all it takes to go irate. In this case, irate is great.