So Bad That It's Hard to Believe - A Review of Repelledeath's Repelledeath

I usually stick to the motto that you shouldn't write anything if you don't have anything positive to say about a new band and its debut release. However, my intentions are indeed most positive: I simply want to prevent anyone from wasting twenty-seven precious minutes on Repelledeath. The band's debut record is the worst album I have come across last year, outclassing even dreadful records by Pestilence and Six Feet Under.

Let's try to start on a positive note. It's always great fun when friends get together to write songs, record music and have a wonderful time. This release's album cover looks quite memorable due to its accurate drawings and use of different colours. The lyrics to the songs underline the group's passion for cinematic milestones and especially honour action and horror movies from the seventies, eighties and nineties.

That's where the positive notes stop and as you can notice, we haven't even discussed the actual music yet. This is exactly where the problems start. The garage production is gritty in a nerve-firing way that can't be excused by any underground stylistics in this day and age. The guitar work is bland and loud, annoying even death metal genre fans after a few seconds. The drum sound is canny and chaotic, adding painfully to the cacophonic impression. I'm not convinced that a bass guitar was truly involved in the recordings. If it's indeed missing, then the band has missed out on an opportunity to establish a much-needed sonic backbone to this dreadful release. If it's indeed present, then all its potential has been wasted terribly as the sound is buried in an absolutely dreadful production.

About forty seconds into this release, IT happens for the very first time. You might be so shocked that you will pause the song, think about what you have just been listening to, rewind the track, listen to it again in disbelief and stop the song all over again. If you have a serious approach to music, you might be crying tears of pain. If you have a humorous approach to music, you might be crying tears of joy. Do you think that Suicide Silence's "Doris" is bad? Have you been baffled by Tommy Wiseau's disasterpiece "The Room"? Those examples aren't even comparable to my first reaction to those absolutely dreadful vocals. That distorted, insane and painful yelling is the single worst attempt at performing vocals that I have ever heard and believe me when I tell you that I have heard quite a few terrible efforts. Those vocals are like a dreadful car crash that traumatizes you so much that you simply can't look anyplace else and the memories will haunt you in your nightmares until the end of days. I'm certain that the singer has some other talents and he should most certainly focus on these and stop singing for his own and everyone else's sake as quickly as possible.

Those five paragraphs are everything that should be needed to prevent you from listening to last year's worst band, worst debut record and worst album in general. Everything from production to musicianship is absolutely dreadful. The vocals however are so terrible that even the most sophisticated vocabulary can barely describe what you're listening to. Don't feel intrigued now and just skip Repelledeath's self-titled horror show to protect yourself.