Progressive Death Metal
Metal Blade
September 9th 2022
Line Up:
Dave Davidson – Guitar/Vocals
Brett Bamberger – Bass
Ash Pearson – Drums
Tracklist:
1 – Diabolical Majesty
2 – Lessons In Occult Theft
3 – Nihilistic Violence
4 – Strange And Eternal
5 – Galleries Of Morbid Artistry
6 – The 9th Chasm
7 – Godforsaken
8 – The Intervening Abyss Of Untold Aeons
9 – Re-Crucified
Revocation returns, after four years with a steaming, vicious, dark slab of satanic death metal based on the writings of Dante Alighieri, Robert W. Chambers, and Chris Hedges. They tackle religion, most notably Catholicism, hypocrisy, politics, demonic symbolism, and the occult. All excellent metal subjects if you ask me. Interestingly one of the songs is about the fight to put a statue of the Baphomet outside a satanic temple in Salem which is on government land. Talk about free speech and the separation of church and state.
‘Diabolical Majesty’ gets straight to the point with a nasty riff and some rapid kick drum action then singer/guitarist Dave Davidson unleashes a verbal tirade so vicious that your ears burn and a barrage of unholy riffs that could summon some nasties from below. ‘Lessons In Occult Theft’ goes for the throat and other body parts with an iron grip and doesn’t let go until you’ve been thoroughly battered then ‘Nihilistic Violence’ gives you another bloody now you’re down. This is punch-up music and right for a big pit at some festival – good friendly violent fun someone once said. ‘Strange And Eternal’ has Davidson shredding like a pro before he gets going on a riff that’s like being slashed with rusty barbed wire – this is serious stuff. Things drop down on the creepy intro for ‘Galleries Of Morbid Artistry’ which develops into a heavy-crushing beast allowing Bamberger and Pearson to lock in and drive this one straight to hell! ‘The 9th Chasm’ is a metal thrashing mad instrumental where drummer Ash Pearson batters seven different shades out of his kit then ‘Godforsaken’ comes down on a massive chugging tour through rapture (!) but with an evil twist before ‘The Intervening Abyss Of Untold Aeons’ takes over with a slow malevolent intro then it explodes to life on a true death metal ride with loads of double kick and some nasty riffage. The final track ‘Re-Crucified’ has the recently departed Trevor Strnad and George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher helping out on vocals, so you know it’s gonna be heavy, and is it ever? Worth the price of the album just for this number alone.
Death metal is not to everyone’s taste, but I reckon a lot of lovers of proper heavy metal will enjoy at least some of this. Dave Davidson has written his masterpiece. The songs are tight and well created with some excellent riffs and believe it or not the solos are quite melodic. Yeah, it’s heavy, it’s nasty and vicious but it’s got something to say and boy does it put its point across. Death Metal album of the year? – Possibly. It has to take something exceptional to top it.
Score: 9/10
Reviewed by: Smudge
https://open.spotify.com/album/77XfLxerAe9wxR6xBrzpxB
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