Horrified Review

Band	Repulsion
Album	Horrified
Type	Album (Studio full-length)
Released	May 29, 1989
Genres	Grindcore, Death Metal
Labels	Necrosis
Length	29:21
Ranked	#43 for 1989 , #1,581 all-time

Reviewer :  KnightInOctober         Rating :  100 / 100

Horrified is the first and only album from the Godfathers of Grindcore, Repulsion. The band formed around 1984 in Flint, Michigan originally going under the moniker of Tempter. The earliest line-up included Scott Carlson on vocals, Matt Olivo and Matt Diffin on guitars, Sean MacDonald on bass and James Auten on drums. Tempter's initial function was performing covers of Heavy Metal and Hardcore Punk bands such as Iron Maiden and GBH. This line-up did not last long though as Diffin and Auten both left soon after. Phil Hines (a drummer from another local band called Dissonance) would serve as the replacement of Auten. Tempter eventually changed their name to Ultraviolence before deciding on Genocide. In November 1984, they recorded the Armies Of The Dead demo for a fanzine called Sledgehammer Press. More instability would pursue concerning membership as MacDonald and Hines also departed. Scott and Matt were now the only remaining members. This led to the pair traveling to Florida in 1985 to meet with Chuck Schuldiner and Kam Lee of the seminal Death Metal band, Death. The original plan was to merge the two bands into one, but it proved to be an unsuccessful attempt due to a couple of problems. After their return to Michigan they met Dave "Grave" Hollingshead, who was then quickly recruited. Scott assumed the role of bass player while still being the vocalist.

This new incarnation of Genocide recorded a demo titled Violent Death in the autumn of 1985. In January 1986, The Stench Of Burning Death was recorded at WFBE studios with engineer Ken Roberts. Aaron Freeman had also been recruited as a second guitarist in order to enhance the overall sound. Around May of that year, Genocide changed its name to Repulsion. From there the demented quartet went on to produce their best material yet with the help of their friend, Doug Earp of Wyatt records. Horrified was originally recorded in June 1986 (under the title, Slaughter Of The Innocent) for approximately 300 smackers. However, it wasn't officially released until three years later in 1989. The reason for its late release probably had to do with the fact that Repulsion was a band ahead of its time (as "clichéd" as that phrase has now become). According to some of the members, they couldn't really attract interest from any of the record labels at the time because their music was way too extreme. Well, Repulsion was definitely one of the heaviest, fastest and noisiest bands (also featuring gruesome lyrical content) of the entire 1980s, so it probably shouldn't be too shocking if zero labels wanted anything to do with them. This combined with other personal issues led them to disintegrate shortly after. In an interview, Scott stated the following regarding this matter:

"When we recorded it, I thought it was really good, I just thought we were a good band. I was proud to be in the band, I don’t think we were arrogant in any way, but we felt like we were a good band and we liked what we were doing as we were really into stuff that was fast, heavy and noisy so when the rest of the world didn’t immediately respond to it, we were confused because we thought, 'hey we’re a pretty good band, why doesn’t anyone care?' When we recorded it, it just happened to coincide with our drummer losing interest and Aaron, our second guitarist, his son was born that summer, right around the time we finished recording the album, so it was a transitional period and we just never recovered from it. It wasn’t like we didn’t get along or anything like that, it was just a transition and being the age that we were at the time, we were in our late teens or early twenties, we just all moved onto other things and left Repulsion on the shelf."

In 1989, Bill Steer and Jeff Walker of Carcass (who were Repulsion fanatics themselves) took on the task of finally releasing this groundbreaking Grindcore album through their label of Necrosis Records (a subsidiary of Earache). Horrified consists of eighteen succinct blasts of raw, relentless havoc. Repulsion are influenced by extreme Metal (Venom, Slayer) just as much as they are by Hardcore Punk (Discharge), and it definitely shows. The members are also huge enthusiasts of Horror films such as Dawn Of The Dead, Re-Animator and Evil Dead, so this shows up in the lyrics and themes as well (amongst other dreary stuff). The 2003 Relapse Records edition of Horrified comes in a 2-disc set: Disc 1 contains the full-length LP from 1989, while Disc 2 is titled "Rarities" and contains more than an hour's worth of numerous rare demos and EPs which were recorded sometime between 1984-1991 (more on that later). "The Stench Of Burning Death" begins with a sludgy, mid-paced riff (which was taken straight from the discarded demo song, "Crack Of Doom"), but then accelerates with explosive blastbeats and grinding guitars. "Eaten Alive" and its vile lyrics tend to remind me of the putrescent, cartoon-ish zombie which appears on the album's artwork. Aaron Freeman and Matt Olivo's riffing here is anxiety-inducing. "Acid Bath" is merciless in its delivery, boasting a sick groove. The legendary Discharge happens to be one of Repulsion's biggest influences, and this becomes evident on the apocalyptic "Slaughter Of The Innocent".

"Dawn of destruction - Pain and death unleashed
Thousands left in famine - Blood runs through the street
End of humanity, an unlucky few are left
To see the living horror and walk among the dead"

According to vocalist/bassist Scott Carlson, "Decomposed" is "the ballad of a flesh-eating zombie". It features a short, blistering guitar solo implanted right smack dab in the middle (as do most tracks here). "Radiation Sickness" brings to mind Slayer, and is contaminated with thrashing riffs and frenetic drumming. The bloody "Splattered Cadavers" begins with more of Dave Grave's violent blastbeats and includes Scott rabidly barking out some morose lines. In his very own description, "this goes straight for the jugular with a neanderthal, two-chord verse and some neck-snapping, turn-around riffs". Fuzz-encrusted chainsaw bass introduces the contagious "Festering Boils". While most tracks on Horrified have a tendency to sound somewhat similar (especially to new ears), this one is amongst the more distinguishable. "Pestilent Decay" incorporates ravaging sections of broken rhythms. Out of the sixteen tracks on this album, this one is Scott's personal favorite. "Crematorium" is a spine-chilling song that features a blazing, atonal guitar solo (which yet again reminds me of Slayer). "Driven To Insanity" has loads of chugging guitar riffs, filthy bass and even some devious time signature changes. Lyrically, this track was inspired by the 1985 Horror film, Re-Animator. "Six Feet Under" begins with a dark, Iron Maiden-tinged melody before it explodes into unrelenting fury that never ceases throughout its seventy second duration. "Bodily Dismemberment" is quite disturbing, integrating flesh-mincing riffs and a killer guitar solo. Keeping the Grindcore massacre going is the eponymous track of "Repulsion", a terrible disaster of hammering blastbeats and cymbals. The lyrics which Scott spews are amongst some of the most grotesque he ever wrote.

"Worm infested rotten flesh - The stench is what I lust
Vomit on a corpse's face - Maggots eat the crust
Fornicating zombies in a grave that reeks with death
Rotten fetus in the garbage - Hanger through its head
Rabid dogs feed on a corpse the bones are stripped of flesh
Twisted and disfigured children - Struck by violent death"

A story from author HP Lovecraft is reputed to be the inspiration behind "The Lurking Fear". From all the tracks on Horrified, this one is rather forgettable (it's possibly the weakest, in my opinion. I still enjoy it though; just not to the same degree that I do with all the rest). The Nazgul creatures from The Lord Of The Rings were the influence for "Black Breath" ("Nine slaves of death - Trapped in eternal Hell! Kill you with their breath"). Very much like "Festering Boils", this is one of the most recognizable tracks. Surprisingly, it's actually also the slowest in regards to tempo and does not feature any blastbeats whatsoever. "Maggots in Your Coffin" continues the no-holds-barred aggression, where Dave proceeds with the deliberate abuse of his poor drum set. Finishing the album is the title track, "Horrified", which has psychotic speeds that seem to run a 100 MPH and shredding riffs. The lyrics here are more of a psychological horror/paranormal nature. The "Rarities" disc contains over an hour of demos and EPs ranging from Genocide's gestation in 1984 to the ultimate demise of Repulsion in 1991. This material enables one to hear the complete evolution of this band. Armies Of The Dead is the first rehearsal demo by Genocide and was recorded on November 1984 in Phil Hines' basement with a portable cassette. It features three tracks - "Armies Of The Dead", "Satan's Whores" and "Crack Of Doom". The noise on this demo is sloppy and strongly influenced by Hardcore. Violent Death has six tracks and was recorded in the autumn of 1985 in Matt Olivo's bedroom. This demo displays a slight improvement in the musicianship.

The Stench Of Burning Death was recorded at WFBE studios on January 1986. This twelve-track demo is one of the quartet's best efforts. The music is faster and heavier than anything prior. The template for the definitive sound of Grindcore was also more developed at this point. Scott's growls are now much fiercer and deeper. "Crypt Of Terror" and "Black Nightmare" are a couple of superb tracks that unfortunately didn't make it to the official Horrified album (If I recall correctly, Scott said somewhere that he and the others wanted to record more tracks, but couldn't afford to, due to lack of funds). Included next are two live tracks recorded during a Genocide concert in May of 1986. The sound quality is damn raw and rough. Scott uses a lighter, Punk-styled voice rather than his deeper, raspy growls (according to the liner notes, Repulsion was touring with some Hardcore bands during this time, so they weren't allowed to be "Metal"). In the mid-to-late 1980s, the band separated, but in the early 1990s they reunited for a short time and produced two more demos. However, Matt couldn't make it as at the current time he was enlisted in the armed forces. The Excruciation EP turned out to be slightly different than the early material. This is more-or-less Deathgrind, as the songs are now longer in length (with some reaching the three minute mark), are a bit more detailed in their arrangement and also incorporate slower passages. Some of the most memorable tracks are the repugnant yet humorous (anthemic, even!) "Helga (Lost Her Head)" and "Rebirth".

In January of 1991, Repulsion put out its final demo. Matt was now available to play as he was on a break from his service in the army. On the final demo, they further changed their formula of noise. In the early 1990s, the Death Metal genre saw rise and gained popularity, so they appeared to have let themselves get a little bit influenced by the current trends and acts of the time. The tempos have gotten even slower now. Scott's growls are very deep and resemble those of Glen Benton from Deicide. This farewell EP may be different from the early stuff, but I don't necessarily think it's terrible. The only real problem for me would have to be the mixing; the vocals are too high up in the mix while you can barely hear the rest of the music. "Face Of Decay" and "House Of Freaks" are a couple of the standouts here. Lacking the momentum of their primordial days, Repulsion disintegrated soon after - This time, permanently. In the liner notes of the 2003 reissue, Scott states, "I lost interest and the band collapsed once again. it was difficult to match the intensity of the early days - Not just musically, but emotionally as well". Despite that Repulsion didn't get their due when they were active, this band still played a very crucial part in the development of Grindcore, and to me Horrified will always be the most essential and exciting album of it.