Review by Carl on November 10, 2024.

A band featuring Matt Harvey of Exhumed fame and Matt Olivo from Repulsion, and it's called Expulsion? That's a bit unimaginative, but whatever gets the point across, I guess. Good thing that this EP kicks all kinds of ass, or I would've been really disappointed here.

You can definitely hear who is involved here because this certainly has some 'the singer of Exhumed teaming up with that guy from Repulsion' vibe hanging over it. Just like Matt Olivo's main band, Expulsion makes good use of chainsaw guitars underpinned by primal blast beat velocity and gruff vomitous vocals, with some excellent scorching lead guitar work thrown in. For the most part the music moves along at a very brisk pace, sounding absolutely intense in its execution, with some sparse slower sections thrown in as well. The music is brought with a punk-ish level of energy, eschewing intricate patterns and overly technical doings in favor of an uncomplicated yet highly effective approach. This is a raging concoction of primal death metal and old-school grindcore, and if you're thinking of Repulsion here, you're really close, but there's a bit more to this band than just being Repulsion 2.0. Take the track "Nightmare Future", where the band creates their own d-beat crust banger, letting the spirit of classic Discharge roam free throughout, with some grinding touches added to the mix, and just believe me that this sounds awesome here. It should go without saying that the execution is to the nines on this EP, making clear that we are dealing with experienced men, and it definitely shows. The production sounds very fitting for a release like this, delivering both power and clarity to proceedings, yet avoiding a clinical and sterile sound by not overdoing it with too much modern trickery, and boy, does it work to the band's advantage.

Most of these groups with a 'famous' membership usually fall short of completely delivering on the promises made, but Expulsion manages to land the expected punches, and then some. This EP combines an excellent performance by people with experience with a youthful sort of energy and idiotic amounts of conviction, all the while delivering a manic mixture of death and grindcore with some added dashes of thrash metal and crust punk. They may not be reinventing the wheel anytime soon, but with this volatile chunk of concrete under their belts Expulsion cannot fail to impress all into the old-school death/grind style.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10