Re-Buried – Repulsive Nature Review

Re-Buried. As in: to bury again something that was previously already buried.

It’s right there in the name, the “re-” prefix, and so, if you read as much into it as I am clearly going to, then it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Re-Buried is working within the confines of a grave that’s already been dug. Still, that’s not intended as a slight on this Seattle-born quintet – too often is “an absence of object originality” confused with “a lack of overall quality,” and while the former would stand true throughout deep inspection of Repulsive Nature, the latter does not apply to this album in the slightest.

…which is a roundabout and verbose way to get here: Repulsive Nature is old-school death metal, the kind you’ve heard before, although it’s not mere cloning and it’s not so easy to pin down one particular band, or style, or subset of death metal that it’s specifically aping. It’s indebted to the Incantations and the Immolations, cavernous and carving with a sizable dash of early Earache-style death/grind, and some chiming doomy clean bits, and even a hint of Scandinavian bite. Alongside all those twists and turns, the most important description of Repulsive Nature is ultimately this one: Throwback though it may be, this Re-Buried debut full-length is a very well done homage to an era that’s rightly considered classic, and thus, it’s absolutely one hell of a fun listen.

Opening with a squall of guitar feedback, “From Beneath” immediately displays almost all of Repulsive Nature’s best qualities: crushing riffs from guitarists Eddie Bingaman and Paul Richards; a snap-tight rhythm section with Clayton Wolff’s ropey bass coiled atop Alex Bytner’s pummeling drums, equally adept at Bolt Thrower bulldozer and occasional forays into a grind-ier frenzy; Chris Pinto’s vomitous and ‘verbed-out growl; and all of that presented with a perfectly putrescent production by the ever-reliable Billy Anderson. These guitars are filthy, but biting, with a clarity that sacrifices none of the necessary putridity while affording equal room for the chunky chords to punch, the tremolo riffs to carve, and the pinch harmonics to squeal. Not content to merely steamroll, Richards inserts off-kilter melodies in the likes of the suitably world-beating “Planetary Obliteration,” where a woozy guitarmony bubbles up from the storm, and the skittering flashes in “Hypocrisy Incarnate.” The clean arpeggios of “Dismal Hallucinations” split Repulsive Nature neatly in half, with the second half hammering home all the points made in the first, culminating in the longest song (at a mere four-plus minutes), “Rancid Womb.” Each of Repulsive Nature’s nine true tracks (“Hallucinations” being more of an interlude) exudes confidence, energy, fury, all the appropriate hallmarks of quality death metal. It’s ten songs, thirty minutes, with only the first and final tracks eclipsing the four-minute mark – get in, crush skulls, get out, repeat… That’s the spirit, right?

There’s been plenty of old-school death metal retreads in the past decade, but there’s a reason for that: Death metal kills, and we all know it. Re-Buried is a relatively young outfit – formed in 2018 and with only a demo and split leading up to this debut – and they’ve managed to combine bits and pieces from beloved forebears into a crushing whole that, while not entirely original, kicks and crushes with all the same power as anything that came before. A new take on an old sound, Repulsive Nature proves that there’s still plenty of fertile dirt left to throw on death metal’s grave…