Pervertopia

Judging by its appearance, and several references to GG Allin I’ve seen in relation to this album, one or another could think that Repuked’s debut full-length Pervertopia would be full of tongue-in-cheek punk played under influence. That is why it comes as a slight surprise that Pervertopia is so solidly hammered death metal instead of mere random punk bursts.

Don’t get me wrong, Pervertopia indeed is filthy, ugly and nasty, with an uncountable number of references to vomiting in song titles. Vocals, varying from lower grunts to higher pitches, also take care of the puking element of the band, spewing the filth convincingly. Production-wise, Pervertopia sounds huge, guitars having the main role with their vast, crushing sound, not to forget the rather simple yet effectively battered drums.

For the most part, the tempo is kept at quite high, ”Toxic Constipation” being a major exception from the code though as it’s a long, doom-driven piece of slow menace. Proper highlights come hard to mention as the 45-minute whole doesn’t offer any truly outstanding compositions - instead, all the songs are equally vomit-inducing - which becomes the album’s only main problem, as there’s not that much to remember afterwards, though some songs like ”Mental Vomit” and ”Chemically Wasted” (with its maniacal, hypnotizing (!) instrumental outro section with a constant blast beat and a lot of noise) do get stuck in my head.

Along with the other January release, Maim’s Deceased to Exist, Soulseller Records has again spawned a solid death metal release into the world, a release worth of the attention of those who like their old school death metal with a load of nastiness instead of any occult imagery that seems to be so common today. With a little more focus on memorable songwriting, I could be impressed to much higher extent next time these Swedes come around, but Pervertopia is already a fine and enough endurable installation into the genre.

3 / 5
[ http://www.vehementconjuration.com/ ]

After you see a band called Repuked, there is only one word in your mind: filth.

Repuked were founded in 2007 in Sweden and after two demos they started recording their debut album. The final result was unleashed in March 2011 under the name of "Pervertopia".

The intro of the first track, "Chemically Wasted", is a little demonstration of what you will listen to almost in every song: vomiting and screaming!

The blend of sonorities is perfectly related to punk and death metal which sometimes verges on the grindcore. The drummer does not come from another world, but he does the essential to keep up with that feeling. The guitar riffs are the main link to the combination I stated before because sometimes you may feel you are in a punk concert and in the next second you are surrounded by death metal fans. I felt it when I listened to the "...Fucking Something Dead" track. However, do not expect only fast guitars and drums. You will listen to some ripping guitar solos, sometimes when you least expect them.

"Toxic Constipation" is the song that ends this record. It is 8 minutes long and I find it to be slow and very obscure; the perfect way to end "Pervertopia".

Rob "the Slob" is the man who vocalizes this soundscape of decay.

Quoting Repuked: «Imagine GG Allin's corpse would date rape the Swedish death metal scene, Repuked would be the abominated result, a true bastard.»

And remember, play it very loud, otherwise you will not fully enjoy it.

Originally written for and posted at Riff Magazine

Pervertopia would not the first time we've heard a fusion of death metal, d-beat grind and punk ethics; bands like Disfear, Death Breath and Trap Them all hang in the balance, but for the young Repuked, the aim is to affix the splatter of primal, nasty primate punk to the visceral momentum of early 90s Swedish death, a task to which they succeed admirably, like some crass embodiment of Repulsion, Entombed and Autopsy in a cockfight. This is the band's first album after a pair of demos, and it incorporates a lot of thick, streaming guitars with jangling noise, breakdowns and a slew of guttural vocals that assault you like a street gang of drunken undead sailors and whores with their jaws and tongues shorn off.

Of course, this is ridden with the juvenile aesthetics one might expect from such a 'fun' band, like the hurling intros to "Mental Vomit" or "I Wanna Puke On You", but these are very easily forgiven when the material is so solidly executed, like a bowel cleansing factory with guitars. The riffs are often incredibly simple ("I Wanna Puke On You", "Fucking Something Dead"), but they are still effective enough to get a circle pit active. However, there are some deviations from this pattern in "Orgasmic Death Deliverer", which opens with some busier, morbid guitar patterns over the booming chords, or closer "Toxic Constipation", an epic 8+ minute doom/death/sludge piece which is engrossing due to the incessant guitar noise being cast above its rhythms. I'm also privy to the primal rocking of "Morgue of Whores", a creepy intro shifting into giant chords that eventually pick up speed.

Ultimately, the area in which Pervertopia lacks is simply in memorable songwriting. If you were carting a busload of gore-obsessed grind freaks to a cannibal barbecue, or a vomit fetish rally, then this would make for great listening en route, inciting the gastric and reproductive juices of an audience churning for satiation. The bludgeoning, grotesque atmosphere created here is somewhat unique, for instance, you won't hear this on most General Surgery recordings. But outside of the tone and the variation in tempos, and the frothing guffaw of the entertaining vox, there are precious few moments of invention and titillating guitar work. It's not a dry heave, because these tracts are choked with wet, clammy bile, but the stomach muscles are too soon to relax, the toilet odors too fleeting to cling to your senses for very long. But for 45 minutes of disgusting aural architecture, you could do far worse...

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com