Album Review: Repuked - Club Squirting Blood
Reviewed by Sam Jones
I was pleasantly surprised to find Repuked would have another album out soon, only to find it has, in fact, been a full four years since Dawn Of Reintoxication came out. Formed in 2007 out of Stockholm, Sweden, the band are possibly one of their nation’s most underrated modern acts having released a number of Demos, Splits, an EP and more. Their first album, Pervertopia, came out back in 2011 which was soon succeeded by their 2013 record Up From The Sewers. Repuked are one of those bands who utterly revel in the grotesque, morbid nature of extreme metal as they care not an iota for the plethora of viscera they find themselves deluged by. It took seven years, but the band would finally unveil their third album, the aforementioned Dawn Of Reintoxication, and this is where my knowledge of the band began back in 2020. I utterly adored that album upon its release and slated for a November 22nd release date, once more signed on to Soulseller Records, the band return with their fourth full album simply titled Club Squirting Blood. With my prior experience of the band established, I dove headfirst into Repuked’s newest offering, blood and guts and all.
Like their last record, Repuked utterly revel in the nasty, blunt, raw side of death metal where songwriting and lyrical content relishes everything putrid and grotesque. Take the opening track for instance, “Stiff Dick In A Stiff”, other bands might have phrased that track title in a more artful or “metal” manner. Repuked however just say it as it is, which therefore showcases their songwriting as this honest force that isn’t trying to fool you into thinking their soundscape is anything other than what is immediately apparent. There’s also a strong Autopsy worship occurring herein too, for their atmosphere is laden with ooze and decay as riffs seemingly melt before you, and the mood sours and putrefies. Though their performance is evidently firm and you can pinpoint the precise positions each instrumental and vocal element has within the album’s mix, you know forthright they could undergo these withering sections of riffs at a moment’s whim.
With that said, the band may wish to throw these decrepit riffs your way, their tone is on point as their guitar work is deliciously caustic. Their songwriting may harbour ideas of acidic, noxious atmosphere, but the actual impact they deliver is just as concrete and prominent as any more cavernous work of death metal. Throughout their performance Repuked always convey the confidence in their audience that everything you’re listening to is deliberately planned and has been thought out; the Autopsy vibe is merely another tool the band are adopting, not as some crutch to be relied upon. Their riffs are these dirty, distorted things that crawl with the refusal to die, you can feel the flesh dragging and clinging to the carcass as it inches forward towards us. But more than this, the bass is just as strong a presence on record for its their basslines that aid the band in projecting their riffs outwards. Whether it’s via the bass drums or basslines themselves, there’s a nice and necessary boost given to the band’s performance.
I can’t help but feel like Repuked have come all the closer to crafting their first real death/doom record of their career. Whilst their sound has always leaned towards a doomier element, there definitely appears to be effort towards that sensibility; numerous tracks included feature much slower, dragging riffs and songwriting where the pacing is considerably slowed, before the band pick things up again with a more explosive performance, intensity and frenetic blast beats additionally. When I consider their last record, I do not recall it being as slow and doomy in places as this album is and I’m glad for it; no band truly wishes to produce the precise same album twice and, given the direction their may be heading in, Repuked could be looking to develop this death/doom style increasingly with future releases. This is especially interesting since the band aren’t writing the longest tracks either and throughout some of these the pacing is much faster, befitting their more intense moments. Yet, just because a track is two minutes long, doesn’t mean their tempo is firmly fixed, for the songwriting can suddenly evolve into something more crunching or emanate those death rattle-esque sections that have made them well regarded amongst Swedish Death Metal these days.
I’d argue the most Autopsy-influenced aspect of the record, and the band as a whole, are the vocals. Stylised upon the slobbering, swampish vocals of Chris Reifert, the vocal performance of Repuked can be deemed a stylised continuation of that aesthetic. I imagine some may draw similarities to Obituary’s own John Tardy, however Repuked sport vocals that are far more baritone, deeper than many death metal acts and thus as their performance ramps up, or undergoing more insidious songwriting, the vocals can sometimes just deteriorate completely into mindless gargling where not a syllable can be intelligibly picked out. It’s possibly one of the most definable features throughout a Repuked release, and coupled alongside the riffs and drums that bring the band’s signature horror to our ears, the vocals help immerse us all the more and round out the soundscape Repuked have consistently vied for throughout their discography.
In conclusion, Repuked’s Club Squirting Blood is an album that does exactly what it says it will do: it is dirty death metal played with dirty attitude, dirty tone and with all the dirty subject matter Repuked wished to inject. I stand by my argument that the band could be leaning towards a stronger death/doom aesthetic as there were many times throughout their performance where their sound clearly slowed down to make for more atmospheric occurrences to immerse us. But Repuked’s performance herein demonstrates that extreme metal doesn’t always need to aspire for more artful forms of music; provided the band’s sound is genuine, and they’re not trying to trick their audience into masking their sound for anything other than what is on display, a band can absolutely pull off this heinously visceral, grotesque work. It’s a curious place within the band’s career as they could double down on the doom side of things or completely forgo that and just blister us incessantly with a more rampant, intense record the next time round. But I know I’ll always want to see what Repuked are up to.
