The Ghoulish Acceleration
It’s hard
to believe but this is the first Repulsor
band’s name in metal world! And knowing nothing about the Repulsor music and glimpsing
at front cover, one could arrive at conclusion, that this band is another
rotten crew dealing with putrid old school death metal. The young and
frightened long-haired woman has no chance to run away as the hungry ghouls are
nearby ready to bloody feast. That’s true the front cover painted by Guatemalan
artist Mario López rivets my attention, yet it cannot be any determinant to
praise it blindly from the start. But Repulsor is not going to show any sweetness,
the band strikes my senses without mercy with frenzied riffs and pounding drums
cannonade in the vein of old thrashing speed. The first track “Toxic Tomorrow”
literally chops my head off. And when I recall the interview with the band done
by Tomek Woźniak in his “Pure Metal” from October, 2013 (this special number
concerning mainly new Polish crews was called “Pure Thrash” practically), the
name of Sadus and their second album “Swallowed in Black” was called by Filip
Strzemieczny, bassist and vocalist. And bloody hell, these Gdańsk citizens give
such a devastating music. The base is bestial speed here, and it has to be
precise kick into the forehead from the first second. The whole is supported by
decent production, I mean the guitars have rawness and severity making this
title something unique in nowadays soulless recordings. Maybe at the start the
drums seemed to be too dry, however during many fruitful listens I got into a
groove luckily.
And even if
the second “R.M.D.H.” (read it: Real Moshers – Die Hard) is faster a bit and
much longer, nobody can accuse them of being boring. What is more, musicians
prove their skills, not only by bringing many tempo changes, but also providing
many catchy and interesting guitar riffs. And yes, I mentioned Sadus, but another
well-known outfits should be given as main influence as well: Exodus and
Metallica with their debut albums, also Slayer with “Hell Awaits”. Vocals go
the same I think, Filip manner is quite clear and understandable, he yells and
shouts being just a proper block in this thrashing wall. Musically the first
six songs are old stuff recorded in 2013, the remainder consisting of three
shots is the effect of a deal signed with Thrashing Madness. So, musically
thrash avalanche spreads its destructive wings through two first songs and it…
ends in silence. Then something wrong is going in the kingdom of Repulsor when
“The Summoning” enters the stage. This instrumental piece lasting about one
minute disconcerts me effectively. It’s not a bad musical form, but its place
should be on the beginning, or on the end as a some kind of calmer tune. Anyway,
it is like an irritating commercial during good movie…
… giving a
place “To the Coven” luckily. This is a real storm! Again with unhampered
aggression and deathly acceleration, it lashes out at awhaped senses. And
believe me, “Killing Instinct” (great chorus) and “Stained Heritage” with
splendid guitar leads (especially the ending madness!) aren’t worse at all. Suchwise
the first part is finished. The second one, recorded in 2014, shows different
way of production, lower and with more underground touch. I cannot say it is
like a weak coffee, no, I like it very much, especially stronger parts of Filip
bass lines, yet it makes the whole substance less coherent. Anyway, musically
seems the band has still something to say / thrash, as the song structures
became longer, not throwing up tempo changes and well-thought leads
performances. A real glace cherry is the ending “Repulsive Oppressor”, the
longest amidst the blood thirsty monsters, with steady beginning turns after
almost fifty seconds into Slayer screaming love-child. Then Repulsor amazes me
by pretty long lead that ends this release. Hey lads, it’s not oppressive, it’s
a really gorgeous piece of metal!
Summing the
stuff up, I have to admit it kicks my thrash ass beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Visually very good and memorable artwork merged with decent layout and booklet,
is a proper complement to the musical side. The final effect is really lethal. Looking
ahead, I hope Repulsor turns to full account its evident thrashing force to
dominate the Polish scene. The challenging task I guess as there are couple of interesting
and promising bands with Thermit in capite, however they have everything to do something
really amazing in the crowded scene. That’s true they are tackling the
permanent line-up changes, especially when it comes to the guitarist job, yet I
strongly believe that Filip and Michał won’t give the thing up. Definitely this
band should be praised above the moon, because when I meditate about something
interesting coming from Gdańsk, I can see only such degenerations like speedway
riders of fallen Wybrzeże or football players from Lechia. Great that Repulsor
is alive, it brings some optimism from that Pomeranian location. Nowadays, as many
bands are immersed in thrash fashion and it is very hard to find a better one, check
the band out and give them a chance despite of aforementioned incoherentness.
After all, the music is the only thing that counts. So don’t hesitate and be
trapped in this thrashing slashing nightmare. Just like me.
88/100
-Tlacaxipehualiztli
(written on January, 2015)
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