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After a sold-out-in-a-flash demo, Repression returns. This time featuring a fully-fleshed-out line up, complete with the former drummer of Extended Hell and Urchin. For their vinyl debut, Repression have expanded on their Burning Spirits-by-way-of-Boston sound...with monstrous Heresy style drumming, explosive thrash guitar, stompers with a healthy amount of swagger, and even more unhinged vocals. “War Comes Home” is a varied and fun listen straight through, with several highlights. Look no further than “Noxious Bulb”, where bombastic hardcore is birthed from ominous building guitar “Big Take Over” style. A must.
Our take: War Comes Home is the debut vinyl from this Arizona hardcore band. They had an earlier demo tape on the excellent Total Peace label, but since that recording Mike from Extended Hell and Yellowcake has joined on drums. As I said when I wrote about Yellowcake’s 7” a while back, Mike is a beastly drummer who will improve any band he’s in, and War Comes Home is indeed a powerful record. Repression’s sound is jagged and noisy, drawing from more than just a narrow spectrum of influences. Total Peace’s description of their demo mentioned Nine Shocks Terror and Deathreat, and I can hear that in War Comes Home. In the same way those 90s bands sounded like an amalgamation of everything in hardcore that had come before, Repression’s music isn’t anchored in one particular scene or style. The snotty but snarling vocals sound contemporary, with a similar catchiness as Gag or Paprika, and the guitars do everything from flanged-out noise to driving power chords to loose and chaotic leads, all three of which you can hear on the closer “Noxious Bulbs.” The mid-paced “Eradicated” is another highlight, with a strutting riff that would make your granny want to slam. While the fact that Repression doesn’t stick to one clear lane may make them a little less immediate, I love that War Comes Home doesn’t sound quite like any other record in my collection.