"Repulsion were an early grindcore / death metal band from Flint, Michigan. Their innovations were significant to the development of the death metal and grindcore genres...By 1986 Repulsion's trademark style had matured; characterised by raspy shouted vocals, extremely distorted down-tuned guitars, overdriven punkish riffs, absurd rambling solos interjected as if only as an afterthought, rumbling bass lines, and machine-gun drumming. Repulsion was experimenting with a hammering, static clouded, lo-fi sound that was on a level of extreme that had been touched on by few bands before. To complement the band's sound they penned gruesome lyrics; focusing on fantastic apocalyptic themes ranging from zombie epidemics to nuclear war."

I don't think Repulsion has done a national tour in a few years so it was a real treat to see the band at the Power of the Riff East Festival. In a pre-show interview with BrooklynVegan, Scott Carlson said "We don't want to play too much. The shows have to feel special for us. So, our acceptance of a gig offer is based as much on where it is, who's playing and who's paying rather than how much they're paying. I don't have the stamina for gigs that are just death metal for 12 hours. Events like Power of the Riff are very carefully curated and the acts are chose for other reasons than just 'well, this shit fits together'."

Repulsion were probably my favorite band of the night. Greg Anderson also seemed to share my opinion as I got a big kick out of watching him come out from between the speaker columns during the later half of Repulsion's set - clearly having fun banging his head to Repulsion's last few songs.





Repulsion is back in the area on January 19, 2013 for Decibel Magazine's "100th Issue Celebration Show" at Union Transfer in Philadelphia. Pig Destroyer, Municipal Waste, Tombs and Evoken are also on the bill for this show. Repulsion is also playing Maryland Deathfest XI (along with Carcass) on May 23, 2013.

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