"LET'S DO A BAND LIKE REPULSION!" - clone bands are usually trash for obvious reasons, but when it's this well-executed and with plenty of palpable piss and rage in it, I'm all for it!
RETORSION are made up of various folks from the Hungarian grind scene including SxOxTxE and HALITOSIS amid others, and as is clear from the logo and tape cover, play a slavish, straight-up, backwards-looking REPULSION-worship style of old school grind/death. Side A has the "Élve Rohadás" five song demo on it and side B consists of seven live tracks recorded in November 2023. Both sides are pretty bloody sizzling as the songs (as you'd expect) consist of mostly single pedal scissor blasts, primitive grinding death metal riffs and manic, gruff, mid-register barks. For the "Élve Rohadás" demo, what makes it all work in practice is the rough and raw mix that of course, largely emulates the sound of "Horrified" - lo-fi but legible, and essentially what a 4 track recording should sound like. The live tracks feature a few not present on the studio demo, which is kind of a shame as I'd have preferred to have heard those recorded with the same mix. However, the quality of the live recording is surprisingly decent and listenable in its own right, which is not something I can say about 95% of live releases in grindcore.
I'd recommend "Élve Rohadás" to anyone in need of more Carlson and co. circa '86. Those into BLASPHEMY and early death/black metal should enjoy too. I hope they capitalise on their momentum to give us a solid 20min full length sooner rather than later! Co-released by Septic Aroma of Reeking Stench and Blastbeat Worship Tapes, and will be reissued as a 7" on RSR soon.
LISTEN: