REVIEW: P.S.You’redead – Sugar Rot [2022]

Artist: P.S.You’redead
Album: Sugar Rot

We’ve all heard the saying “so sweet it will rot your teeth.” Maybe it was in regards to a person, a candy, whatever—but it probably wasn’t about a record. While it stands as a lyric in the record’s title track, it also holds true as a description of the breakout full length by cybergrind-addled mathcore act P.S.You’redead, named Sugar Rot. The only thing is that between the dazzling technicality, spastic intricacy and unpredictable heaviness, Sugar Rot doesn’t just rot your teeth—it rots your goddamned mind, in the best way possible. P.S.You’redead bring some of the best elements of the late 2000’s mathcore treasure trove to the table with a jolt of contemporary razzle-dazzle and glitch-heavy, vaguely chiptuned elements from cybergrind (which is undergoing a Twitter revolution? I don’t know, look into it yourself), and make Sugar Rot a record that the listener likely doesn’t expect to love, but will end up falling head-over-heels for.
Sugar Rot is a chaotic marvel of modern mathcore-turned-cybergrind. Just about every track P.S.You’redead bring to the table is jaw dropping in some capacity or another. Let’s take “Raspberry Belly, Strawberry Supermoon” for example: a track that absolutely pummels the listener between unpredictable breakdowns and noise-infused segments of utter chaos. Other songs, like the more straightforward (if the word can even really be used) “No Coffin Please, Just Wet, Wet Mud” are maybe a more accessible starting point for the listeners less indicted into the world of spazzy, sassy -core. Regardless of the song, what P.S.You’redead provide is non-stop energy. Percussion blazes away like a Gatling gun that, once wound up, can’t be stopped. This is abundantly true throughout the first three tracks on the record, which are home to ruthless speed and ridiculous technicality. Likewise, the low end works with searing guitars to create grindy, primary assaults on the listener’s senses, all while a cavalcade of electronic influence nearly blinds the listener between bright synths and near-chiptune sequences—especially on “Sugar Rot.” The release itself is a bit of a maelstrom, but one that seems to have just enough organization and overt structure to keep the listener from getting lost under dense waves of crushing aggression. P.S.You’redead take some of the finest instrumental elements from the wide, dynamic realm of mathcore and light a fire under its ass with electronic and chaotic touches that give it more depth—and a shit ton more energy—than many bands within their genre.
Where the instrumentation is wild, running amok throughout the listener’s head, the band’s vocal element is…well, in many respects, totally unhinged. The piercing screams, blistering bellows and sing-song segments throughout Sugar Rot are whimsical, eccentric and could not fit better with the Adderall-ridden ride that is the band’s instrumentation. “Sugar Rot,” the stand-out title track as well as “The Mouth of Hell is Lit with Neon” see an abundance of singing to spice up the wild array of screams and shouts that get flung the listener’s way on sons like “Eyes Roll Like Dice.” It’s hard to go into immense detail on the band’s vocal work beyond to say that it is so immensely varied that there is practically no monotony to be found. Anywhere. On the whole damn thing, really, but vocals included.
By the end of Sugar Rot, the band’s name makes a lot morse sense—because the listener feels so bewildered that it wouldn’t be too surprising if someone were to tell them that they’re, well, actually dead now. I loved Sugar Rot—more than I expected to, and to a point where if you’ve yet to dive into the neon-and-death-metal-font world of cybergrind and contemporary mathcore, this release is an excellent starting point. Where some rare sections of the LP found me a little less engrossed (the title track, primarily), most of the release was a coked-up, strung-out raunchfest release that absolutely begs the listener to take another listen.

9/10
For Fans Of: Duck Duck Goose, Thotcrime, Blind Equation, Zombieshark!,
HeavyHeavyLowLow
By: Connor Welsh