REPULSION were formed in 1985 under the name GENOCIDE in Flint,Michigan.They were influenced as by a wide variety of bands like DISCHARGE,CELTIC FROST/HELLHAMMER and NWOBHM music.The classic line up of Scott Carlson (vocals,bass),Aaron Freeman (guitar),Matt Olivo (guitar) and Dave Grave (drums) recorded the legendary "Stench of Burning Death" demo in January,1986.It was released to a tremendous response throughout the underground,and helped gain them a static following of fans of intense music with horror-inspired lyrics,a sub-genre of underground music still in its infancy.It was this foundation that ultimately became the basis of what is reknowned today as "grindcore"; in every respect,GENOCIDE were among the first wave of true pioneers of this style of music,if not the innovators.Shortly after release of the demo,it became apparent that many other bands with the name "Genocide" existed in the world (at the time,the cult band from Massachussets with Bobby Ebz as frontman and the classic heavy metal band from Japan were the most well-known).The band changed their name to REPULSION to avert any confusion and not to be mistaken for these other bands.It was also in 1986 that Evil Chuck Schuldiner of Florida Death Metal pioneers DEATH (who himself had just returned from a very brief and disatrous association with Canada's SLAUGHTER) asked Scott and Matt to move to Florida to become members of DEATH.They agreed,and REPULSION was put on hold for a short time.This arrangement did not work out,and in 1986 Scott and Matt returned to Michigan (while Evil Chuck went to San Francisco,California...another story in itself!!) and REPULSION was reborn after a brief hiatus.Upon their return,the band recorded their classic LP entitled "Slaughter of the Innocent" with Doug Earp in Flint,Michigan.The LP was originally intended to be released on Earp's own label,Wyatt Earp Records,but this never occured,and the album was nearly fated to never see a vynil release.The band continued to spread mayhem and extreme thrash on a small scale during 1987 until Matt Olivo joined the armed forces and REPULSION played their final show in January 1988.It wasn"t until 1989 when CARCASS members Bill Steer and Jeff Walker (who at the time were starting their own label Necrosis Records) obtained permission to release the "Slaughter of the Innocent" LP on their own label.Changing the name of the LP to "Horrified",the long-awaited release of the LP more than sealed REPULSION's fate as the undisputed masters of death/grind with 18 classic tracks,fierce and raw production (including the advent of the often imitated,but never duplicated, "Scott Carlson double-track bass sound" and the well-abused "blast-beat"),and their inimitable style,refreshlingly original even to this day.Due to the extreme popularity of the LP release (bolstered by distribution and licensing from Earache Records),REPULSION finally reunited as a three-piece band (Matt was still in the Army) and in January of 1991,recorded their demo intitled "Rebirth".Some months later,Relapse Records released two of the demo tracks as a 7" entitled "Excruciation".This well-received release of the band led to a renew in interest,and Relapse soon obtained the rights to license and re-issue "Horrified" in 1992,with a track from the GENOCIDE demo ("Black Nightmare") as a bonus track.The band continued to play occasional shows around the states,and in that same year,Matt returned from the army and re-joined the band for a while.In 1993,the band finally called it a day.As it is with band of such legendary statue,REPULSION will live forever as the true Godfathers of Grinding Death Thrash,with several imitators and no equal. HAIL TO REPULSION !
Source: http://www.geocities.com/repulsion_band/bandstory.html