LAY DOWN ROTTEN were formed in Herborn, Germany back in 1999 as a solo project by vocalist Daniel Jakobi. He wrote the first few songs on his own, then deciding to carry on with the project. After showing his material to some fellow musicians, Timo Claas, Johannes Pitz and Daniel “Mini” Benner joined the band in May 2000, turning Jakobi’s solo project into LAY DOWN ROTTEN.

Already in November 2000 the group recorded its first 4-track demo CD entitled “Colder As Cold”, which was met with very good reactions. In July 2001 the band began recording their second demo CD “Way Of Weakness”. Being a self-produced affair, the band took around 4 months to finish it. In September 2001 bassist Johannes left the band for work reasons. The band found a replacement in Uwe within the same month. In 2002 the group kept writing new material, motivated by the good reactions received by their live shows (with REAPER, BURDEN OF GRIEF, FALL OF SERENITY, MEATKNIFE and DEATH REALITY, among others) and releases. Due to a lack of money the band couldn’t afford to go into the studio during that year, so they kept rehearsing and saving.

In April 2003 the band entered Desert Inn Studios in Edingen, taking just two weeks to record their new album “Paralyzed By Fear”. After the album release through Remission Records in October 2004, the band went on the Grind’m’All Tour with MEATKNIFE and GOREZONE, spanning ten dates across Germany. Shortly after the tour the band decided to add a second vocalist to its ranks in the person of Jost Kleinert, with the intention of delivering a better live performance, and taking some wight of Daniel Jakobi’s back in the process. After breaking Jost in, the band concentrated on the songwriting for the new album “Cold Constructed”, which was recorded once again at Desert Inn in July 2004. The album had the impact of an atom bomb. The metal press went raving mad, motivating the band for new deeds. LAY DOWN ROTTEN played as many shows as possible in order to properly promote the album, while at the same time always working on new material.

In November 2005 the band completed the pre-production for the “Breeding Insanity” album, going back to the Desert Inn Studio as soon as December to lay down the rotten tracks. In addition to the regular CD the album was made available as a limited double CD including three cover versions as well as two CD-Rom video tracks. The cover artwork of “Breeding Insanity” was done by Björn from Killustrations, who had already worked for the likes of DEW-SCENTED, ABORTED, DEBAUCHERY, OBSCENITY and AVULSED. The album brought LAY DOWN ROTTEN to the forefront of German death metal, opening entirely new doors for the band, one of them being the signing of a deal with Metal Blade Records, one of the most renowned labels in the metal world.

Shortly after signing the contract the band started working on new songs again. During the songwriting process Daniel Benner decided to leave the band due to musical differences. Luckily the band found a new lead guitarist in Nils Förster (WHEN SORROW ENDS) as soon as April 2007, who had already been involved in the studio work for “Breeding Insanity”, as well as stepping in at a few live shows.

In June 2007 the band returned to Desert Inn studio to record its Metal Blade debut “Reconquering The Pit”. Daniel Benner and Nils Förster split the recording of the lead guitars between them. The album is now done and the band is eagerly awaiting its release at the end of the year. Before the release date, however, the band will be appearing at several summer festivals (Party-San, Zabbaduschder, Queens of Metal, Ragnarock, etc.).

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