Horrified

In 1984, Matt Olivo and Scott Carlson formed the band Tempter in Flint, Michigan. In the fall of 1984, they briefly renamed themselves Ultraviolence before settling on Genocide. The band recorded its first demo, known as Armies of the Dead, in November 1984. In the spring of 1985, following a period of lineup instabilities, Carlson and Olivo agreed to disband and merge Genocide with Chuck Schuldiner's Death. In August 1985, only weeks after they arrived in Altamonte Springs, Florida, drummer Kam Lee left Death. Unable to find a new drummer, the band attempted to work on new material. Carlson and Olivo found themselves at creative odds with Schuldiner; Carlson said that the latter wanted to take things in a more technical and guitar-oriented direction, while he and Olivo wanted to "completely thrash out". After returning to Flint, Carlson and Olivo reformed Genocide and recruited drummer Dave "Grave" Hollingshead, a punk rock drummer whom they heard about from a newspaper article about a grave robbery. Hollingshead's musical background in funk and new wave differed from those of his bandmates, who were primarily into heavy metal. In October 1985, Genocide recorded the Violent Death demo and began playing local shows around Flint. Hollingshead initially struggled to play to the speeds Genocide wanted, leading him to play what they described as a "cheating beat"—"hitting the hi-hat every other time he was not hitting the snare". Within a few months, his drumming speed rapidly increased; Carlson said the lyrics of "The Stench of Burning Death", "Six Feet Under", and "The Lurking Fear", which were meant to be played at a slower, Slayer-esque speed, became "garbled". In January 1986, Genocide recorded The Stench of Burning Death demo at WFBE Studios with the help of guitarist Aaron Freeman, who was made a permanent member thereafter. The band attempted to shop the demo to various record labels, who responded with indifference and viewed the band as too extreme and uncommercial. According to Carlson, the demo was rejected by Combat, Metal Blade, and New Renaissance Records. In May 1986, Genocide changed their name to Repulsion, after the Roman Polanski film of the same name, due to the existence of several other bands under their former name. == Development ==

Olivo said that 75–80% of the songs on Horrified were written while Repulsion was known as Genocide. All but eight of the album's songs are taken from the band's previous demos, and most were completed before Freeman joined the band. The intro of "The Stench of Burning Death" was taken from the chorus of an old Repulsion song titled "Crack of Doom". "Six Feet Under", He described the resulting sound—which William York of AllMusic called "an unholy mess of distorted sludge"—as a "happy accident". The guitars and bass tracks were re-recorded thereafter. According to Carlson, the re-recorded bass tracks were lost when Hennessy "blew over" them during the recording of guitar solo overdubs, resulting in his scratch tracks being used on the final album. Prior to recording, Carlson caught strep throat but continued to practice vocals and "didn't let [his] voice heal properly", resulting in it permanently moving to a higher register after the studio sessions. == Composition and lyrics == Horrified consists of 18 songs with a running time of just under 30 minutes, Revolver Eli Enis viewed the album as a "missing link between mid-Eighties American thrash and early English grindcore", Backed by raw production, and show few signs of groove York called them a "mid-range sneer" that would differ from the "exaggerated Cookie Monster style of much later grindcore". Decibel Gregg Pratt described "Splattered Cadavers" as "speedgrindmayhem". The lyrics of "Festering Boils" were taken—largely unaltered—from a "rough draft" written by Carlson's friend Jim Mark. "Crematorium" was the last song written for Horrified, being completed days before recording commenced. The song's lyrics were written by Carlson, Freeman, and Dejecta vocalist Lee Williams, the latter of whom Carlson later called its "main songwriter". "Driven to Insanity" was inspired by Re-Animator and features a "victorious", galloping punk riff. "The Lurking Fear" was titled after the short story of the same name by H.P. Lovecraft, although its lyrics "have nothing to do with it", according to Carlson. "Black Breath" was inspired by the Nazgûls of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series and is the only song on Horrified to not feature a blast beat. Carlson wrote the lyrics of "Maggots in Your Coffin" after its title was suggested by Tom Puro, a friend of Repulsion. == Release ==

Repulsion hoped the Slaughter of the Innocent demo would garner them label attention, and its subsequent failure to do so left them feeling confused and disillusioned. In July 1986, Hollingshead left Repulsion to join the Army, which Carlson attributed to him and Olivo constantly pushing him to play faster. and "aspiring extremists" such as Nickie Andersson, Lee Dorrian, and Fenriz of Darkthrone. At the urging of Napalm Death bassist Shane Embury, who was pen pals with Freeman, Digby Pearson of Earache Records contacted Repulsion in early 1989 with an offer to release their album. Carlson said that, ironically, Earache was one of the few labels Repulsion did not send their demo to, as they had only put out two releases at the time—a reissue of The Accüsed's debut album and a flexi release by Heresy. With some funding from Pearson, Slaughter of the Innocent was remixed in March 1989 at Silver Tortoise Soundlab in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Carlson, Freeman, and Jonas Berzanskis. == Artwork ==

The cover of Horrified, illustrated by Carlson in the style of EC Comics, was inspired by a story in Twisted Tales about a "burned up kid who comes back from the dead on Halloween and goes trick-or-treating." Mike Grossklaus, who worked on its layout, initially drew the album's cover, which Carlson described as a "sort of psychedelic blur of a photo of a guy getting his head blown off". Earache rejected Grossklaus' cover, and Walker ended up handling the artwork uncredited. According to Carlson, Walker enlarged and painted over his illustration to depict a "rotten, green zombie", unaware of its intended representation of a "burned up kid". Phil Skarich, whom Carlson knew from a band he was in called From Beyond, drew the liner notes artwork. Olivo, who was stationed in Germany with the Army at the time of its release, recalled that his first thought upon receiving a copy of the album was Goddamn, this is shitty looking!' [...] that cover is just fucking awful", although he was happy with the rest of its packaging. In a 2004 interview, Carlson criticized the cover for deviating from its intended idea and said it was "terrible and we're stuck with it cos that's what people have seen." Conversely, Freeman considered the cover to be the "better choice" in hindsight, calling it Repulsion's version of Eddie. Bennett described the cover as "iconic". == Reception and legacy ==

Over time, Horrified came to be seen as a landmark grindcore release, and is widely regarded by as a classic and highly influential album by the genre's fans; In 2009, Decibel Andrew Bonzanelli ranked Horrified first on the magazine's list of "The Top 30 Grindcore Albums of All Time", calling it the genre's "first, and definitive" album and crediting it with "legitimizing the blast beat by employing it in bulk". Terrorizer ranked it as the second-greatest American grindcore album, stating that Repulsion was "directly and indirectly responsible for [the existence of] every other band" on their list. Horrified has also been credited with pioneering the goregrind subgenre, with Greg Pratt of Decibel describing it as the source of inspiration for "every goregrind band on the planet". who also covered "Maggots in Your Coffin" on their 1999 covers EP Leaders Not Followers. Critics have also described Horrified as laying the groundwork for other bands including Cannibal Corpse, Death, and Pestilence. Reviewing the album for Metal Hammer in 1993, James Sherry acknowledged Horrified influence on bands such as Napalm Death and Carcass whilst describing it as a fun listen that was "as chaotic, dangerous and downright repulsive as music can get... for now." In his retrospective review for AllMusic, York said that the album could still be enjoyed as a "direct blast of youthful, horror-inspired thrash/grind mayhem" without having to consider its impact or legacy. Kerrang! stated in 2019 that Horrified "agitated pace is also what gives [the album] its charm, and for a generation of kids uninterested in a lot of extreme metal's technical obsession, the record became influential beyond anyone's wildest dreams." In 2021, Alexander Santelt of Metal.de wrote that the album "remains absolutely relevant today, both as a historical audio document and the birth of [grindcore], but also as a still incredibly entertaining, [...] primitively antisocial, yet charming and catchy blast." == Aftermath ==

Repulsion reunited in 1990 and produced two demos and an extended play, Excrutiation (1991), through Relapse Records. The EP's success led Relapse to re-release Horrified in 1992, with new artwork and the bonus track "Black Nightmare", taken from Repulsion's Stench of Burning Death demo. In a 2004 interview, Carlson and Freeman said that the album had sold 6,000 copies through Earache and another 5,000 through Relapse. Shortly after its release, Repulsion were offered a headlining slot at the final Milwaukee Metalfest, leading to their reunion; the band has continued to tour and perform, primarily at festivals, since then. In 2009, Repulsion performed the album in its entirety in New York City with Pig Destroyer and Brutal Truth. The band initially reformed with its Horrified line-up; by 2013, Carlson remained its sole constant member. To date, Horrified remains Repulsion's sole album. When asked about the possibility of recording new material in a 2012 interview with BrooklynVegan, Carlson said that if "the material and motivation ever come together, I think [Repulsion] could do something that would not tarnish our name". In the 2016 edition of Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore, he said that new material would have to come naturally instead of forcing it, but otherwise believed audiences would not be interested in it. ==Track listing==

Personnel adapted from liner notes.Repulsion • Aaron Freeman - guitar, mixing • Matt Olivo - guitar • Scott Carlson - bass, vocals, mixing • Dave Hollingshead - drumsProduction • Doug Earp - production • Repulsion - production • Larry Hennessy - recording, engineering • Jonas Berzanskis - mixing Artwork • Scott Carlson - cover illustration • Jeff Walker - artwork (uncredited) • Phil Skarich - inner artwork • Mike Grossklaus - layout == Notes ==