I wouldn’t guess that these fellows are familiar with the Large Hadron Collider–but if you put yourself between Repugnant and its point of impact, this slab will reduce you to particles. Like the Hadron Collider, this album, if misapplied, threatens to bring about doomsday scenarios. Repugnant doubles down on what made Human Deviance Galore so alarming. The band already crammed as much chonky aggression as they could into their music, so here Necroticgorebeast ekes out ways to expand their filthy domain by a few microns. The ingredients are the same, and the subject matter is no less reprehensible. Among the topics presented for consideration are “Consensual Castration” and “Gouged Eye Copulation.” The album raises/lowers the bar with its never-ending intensity. The strategy mostly succeeds–Repugnant, while less playful than its predecessors, is still a blast of nasty fun. You’d best hide this thing under the bed, because there will be consequences if mom and dad find it.
I don’t mean to insult Necroticgorebeast, but a certain intelligence stalks these ten tracks. Would it have been better applied elsewhere? Without question, but that’s between these gentlemen and their mental health provider. Repugnant keeps tightening the screws over its first four expulsions. The menace of “Repugnant” gives way to the bigly stöopid stomp of “Unsedated Face Removal.” Matt McGachy of Cryptopsy drops by for tea and a guest vocal spot on “Consensual Castration,” before “Self-Inflicted Cerebral Edema” obliterates everything in its path. Relief comes in the form of “Gouged Eye Copulation.” The pinch harmonics and relative restraint of that track initiate a pivot into a more dynamic second half. Don’t misread me–we are still subject to transgressions like “Masturbated to Death” and “Nail Clipper Circumcision.” The back half of Repugnant just toys with the throttle, which allows Necroticgorebeast to keep you engaged over these thirty-one minutes.
From its cover art to some of its subject matter, Repugnant aims to be more grounded than Necroticgorebeast’s prior albums. There’s an occasional sense of real-world horror here that, for me, takes away some of the fun. I personally can’t abide any glorification of serial killers. These dullard incels are the furthest thing from criminal masterminds, and they deserve neither attention nor cute little ooga-booga nicknames. So kicking Repugnant off with a long, would-be scary quote from one of these dipshits is the wrong way to invite Ferox out for a play date! Fortunately, the album gets that out of its system quickly so I can stop clutching my pearls and join in for some “Frozen Feces Evisceration.”
I’ve written elsewhere about the Great Slam-aissance of 2023. Necroticgorebeast is very much a non-participant; if you tried to invite these reprobates to the festivities, they’d probably return the envelope caked in their own shit. Wormhole and Afterbirth chart new destinations for brutal death metal, while Necroticgorebeast are content to fly the flag for the genre in its pure, undomesticated form. So here’s one for the shop kids and those whose future lies in the custodial arts. Repugnant doesn’t quite “rise” to the “heights” of Ngb’s previous albums, but it has its place as an undiluted and unapologetic draught of the rough stuff.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 319 kbps mp31
Label: Comatose Music
Websites: necroticgorebeast.com| necroticgorebeast.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/Necroticgorebeast
Releases Worldwide: November 3rd, 2023
