Repaid in Blood – ‘Reflective Duality’

Repaid in Blood – ‘Reflective Duality’

21 January 2021 – Self released

Words: Mark Green

 

Hailing from the sacred grounds of the Bay Area, Repaid in Blood have released their second album ‘Reflective Duality’, a mix of tech metal mastery the likes of what Gorod and Born of Osiris are known for, with heavy breakdowns and Black Tongue-esque slow headbanging riffs. Add in some deep death metal growls that very rarely defer from the tried and tested, and we have a brutal affair.

Repaid in Blood have a penchant for giving their tracks humorous titles, some quoting Star Wars, and even doing a somewhat bizarrely brilliant cover of Salt-n-Pepa’s ‘Push It’. Similar comedic titles are used for their latest output, but it feels there’s an overall more mature sense of approach compared to their self proclaimed ‘geek metal’ releases of the past.

To add some power to these proceedings, some of tech metal’s top heavyweights make some appearances to, with the likes of Jon Howard and Travis Montgomery (Threat Signal) and Cameron Losch (Born of Osiris) just to name a few.

‘Intro‘ is like a march to war, just to get the juices flowing before the first battle begins with ‘Wake Up, Time To Die‘. The marching riff is like a continuation from the intro, except giving us deep, deathly growls and some pretty technical solos over. ‘Thots & Purveyors‘, featuring Jon Howard, begins very smoothly with light vocals, before punching in to a groove that gains momentum as it continues before breaking down in to a gallop and then in to a djent like time signature of heaviness. This track keeps us on our toes. ‘Ritualistic Stoning‘ featuring Travis Montgomery is a slow instrumental slaying, with some great solos. The mood and pace leads nicely in to the contrasting following track ‘Rebel Scum‘, where we have the delectable guitar skills of Greg Burgess from Allegaeon, which is heavy, technical and angry. The album powers through with similar gusto with ‘Dave’s Not Here Man‘ and last blast ‘Molotov Circumcision’ which features Born of Osiris’ Michael Alvarez & Cameron Losch, and their influence on the sound is quite impactful and similar to their own blend of technical awesomeness.

Repaid in Blood have cooked up a catchy technical groovefest on their latest album that I’m ready to gorge on for some time. Cheers lads.