Review by Carl on April 14, 2026.

After Warhammer and Massacred, there's a new face on the block when it comes to these types of tribute bands that seem to relish in this amusing sort of well-meant plagiarism. Allow me to introduce to you: Retorsion, an old school death metal-infected grindcore band from Hungary. Help yourself to one look at their logo, and that alone should suffice to tell the old school death/grind aficionado more than enough about what's coming at them.

Yes, these guys are taking ample cues from the mighty and legendary Repulsion. From the bellowing growls, buzzsaw riffing, fuzzed-out bass, the crazy-ass tuneless guitar leads, and hardcore-ish delivery of the short and especially volatile songs, this has "Horrifed" written all over it. Proceedings are kept straightforward and aggressive, as well as fast and furious, with only some minute moments of respite injected. That the band comes close to downright plagiarism more than once ('Elme Terror' is a mutated clone of Repulsion's 'Slaughter Of The Innocent', for instance) is something that is par for the course with bands of this ilk. After all, one could consider Retorsion something like a cover band, but with songs of their own, just as is the case with the aforementioned Warhammer and Massacred.

The production follows suit with the old school grindcore-isms on offer throughout, keeping everything natural and direct, with no unnecessary finery involved. It's a fitting, powerful sound for an abrasive offering of unrelenting aggression, the old school way. Unsurprisingly, the spirit of Repulsion is strong on this one, both in sound as well as in presentation, and I wouldn't want it any other way, you know. An album like this, "Rosszab, Mint A Halal..." is an effortless exercise in atavistic extremity, something worthy of praise in these old school obsessed times.

This stuff is just awesome! It delivers unhinged aggression and volatile energy by the bucketload, while oozing oodles of old school underground spirit throughout the whole duration of the album. That originality isn't of the highest order is something that has never really bothered me, and when it's a band paying homage to one of my personal favorite bands, like Retorsion is doing here, you bet those rosy cheeks of yours that I'm on board for the whole ride!!

After all, people do say that imitation is the ultimate act of flattery, right?

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Rosh on November 26, 2023.

The Finnish death metal scene is altogether quite overlooked, and this might have something to do with the fact that they never spawned a consistent death metal institution of a band, no Bolt Thrower's, no Autopsy's, no Immolation's, no Dismember's, etc. Rather, many of their seminal bands only ever released a couple, one, or in the case of Abhorrence, no full-length albums, instead proving themselves curious oddities for the cryptic fanatic to uncover. Abhorrence, though, would have been the most deserving of a lengthy and storied career, given that they had the greatest impact on the Finnish sound with merely a demo and an EP. They're one of my favorite death metal bands of all time for how they defined this unnerving, visceral style, so it should come as no surprise that a release which offers tight, satisfying live renditions of all their classic songs is more than welcome in my eyes.

These songs feel just as heavy, foreboding, and repulsive on stage as they do on Abhorrence and Vulgar Necrolatry, the guitar and drums punching through just enough to grab you by the balls the same way they did on the original recordings, but not enough to drown out Jukka's distinctive vocals. Since his vocals have always been somewhere between guttural death growls and raspy, throat-razing shrieks, it feels right for the instrumentation to not be overly murky either. Yet still, Abhorrence were always able to capture the rotten, putrid sound even without a cavernous feel. They didn't even entirely abandon thrash on the demo or EP, but they made it work with compositions that simply carry a certain gloomy, sepulchral atmosphere in whatever setting they're played. "Pestilential Mists" may be iconic on the self-titled EP, but it feels instantly familiar on this live album too.

Another key point about the music of Abhorrence is that it's always been quite freakish sounding. My friends in the metal community like to describe bands and albums with single words, and along with early Pestilence, we all agree that Abhorrence was a freakish band, in the sense that they're more deranged with their morbidity than the average death metal band, and it makes you feel uneasy. Whether it's the thrashier cuts like the classic headbanger "Holy Laws of Pain", the descending tremolo lines in "Devourer of Souls", or the doomier segments in "Vulgar Necrolatry" and "Pleasures of Putrid Flesh", the live setting is a very neat and fresh (actually rotten), but still authentic compliment to these already repugnant musical numbers.

On that point, the tone of the music here is obviously much closer to the self-titled EP than to the Vulgar Necrolatry demo, just because it's way clearer sounding, whereas the demo had a very dirty and raw sound (certainly defining the putrid atmosphere). This means that the songs from the demo are sort of spilling their guts more, revealing intricacies that were harder to notice when listening to the original tape. "Devourer of Souls", "Pleasures of Putrid Flesh", and "Vulgar Necrolatry" still sound superb on this release, but more as though they were also featured on the EP.

This is a splendid album to own if you want some Abhorrence on CD or vinyl in your collection, but can't track down the Completely Vulgar compilation, least of all an original copy of their EP. It features fantastic, authentic renditions of all their classic death metal tunes, and proves them to be a worthy contender for the most unnerving yet headbangable death metal band. Certainly, a release like this will keep them relevant despite their body of work being a shortlived stroke of genius back in the 90's. It's all the more impressive that these guys are playing these songs again after reuniting, delivering authentic Finnish death metal two decades later. They are the originators after all!

Rating: 9.8 out of 10