Album Review: Revocation - New Gods, New Masters
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Revocation may just be one of metal’s hardest working, touring, writing and recording bands today. Formed in 2000 originally as Cryptic Warning, the band released two Demos and a full length before changing their name to Revocation and, helmed by David Davidson, the band have every two (or fewer) years blessed us with a new record. With records like Existence Is Futile, Deathless and The Outer Ones, Revocation have become one of today’s mainstays on the touring circuit, now looking to release their ninth full length album: New Gods, New Masters. The title may not be for its own sake either given the band have recently taken on new guitarist Harry Lannon and renowned ex-Obscura bassist Alex Weber, each of which respectively mark their first album credit with Revocation on this record. Lined up for a September 26th release date, New Gods, New Masters cements twelve years now of Revocation releasing music through Metal Blade Records. A new Revocation album is always exciting and I couldn’t wait to get stuck in.
If there’s one thing that Revocation have always sported its a vocal clarity. Given David Davidson’s position as sole remaining member and band figurehead its only natural his vocals possess a loftier slot in the mix, yet they hardly overwhelm the rest of the instrumentation. His vocal tone has always been brusque, hard hitting yet its never been so heavy that it conflicts with the weight the riffs bear down on us. Here too they harness Revocation’s signature snarling, drooling aesthetic wherein we are already in the grips of the monster, as one imagine Davidson’s performance not so much bellowing these words but rather sputtering them forth with rabid animosity. Its why his vocal performance feels more perspirant than your typical technical death metal work, for you feel the band’s delivery just as much as hear it. But i didn’t realise how much i needed to hear guest vocalist Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation on a Revocation track (“Confines Of Infinity)”); it gives another dimension to Revocation’s music and a thought as per what they could sound like if that harmonic and reaching vocal style were adopted as the standard.
As the years have progressed, I've become increasingly cynical of technical death metal bands who implement an abundance of notes unnecessarily, in the vein of attracting new fans to their side. But with Revocation you get the inference these guys really know how to play and therefore imbue their sound with technicality that’simperative to a track feeling the way it does. When the band undergo a new riff or special form of lick that bridges us towards the next segment it feels integral to that specific track’s development, thus leading us to a new place the track, without undergoing that technical element, couldn’t have aided us in beforehand. But the technical element isn’t confined to the riffs alone, for every instance of the band’s interplaying summons the notion these guys have practised long and arduously with each other. Where a blast beat relaxes the riff may come from beneath it, when the vocals start to cease the bass or a particular lick will initiate the next sequence of the song. Rather than establish one technical side alone the entire band’s performance bleeds technicality, the way one cog fits another and thus removing just one piece would fail the mechanism entirely.
I particularly enjoyed how the bass has been played and thus mixed into the record. Instead of giving the bass the task of simply lining the record’s underbelly, Revocation have given it a primal, twitching sound to every bassline it conjures. The effect is an angrier, more unstable bass presence where you’ll be unsure what direction the band take next and, furthermore, the bass is audible at every moment gifting us the chance to experience the riffs and basslines simultaneously, yet without cancelling the appreciation of one for acknowledging the other. If we were to view New Gods, New Masters like an easel, the band’s frame is no longer four by four straight-lined, but something chopped up, slashed and morphed into misshapen form. The record is ultimately made more active and in control of the moment than if the bass had just been left to the wayside, injecting every track with energy that won’t wane anytime soon, increasing the number of audio stimuli one looks out for.
One facet that has risen Revocation amongst the rank and file of technical extreme metal is their willingness to include songwriting noticeably juxtaposed against more visceral, faster playing. It could be an acoustic sequence which helps the bass come forward, a lick that’s far more uncertain what shape it should take, a solo featuring quality playing yet its tone is far from matching the track’s vibe etc. Its ideas like these that ensure a new Revocation album is always an event since there’s no telling what direction the band will undertake. Technical death metal is always the aim but there’s no stopping Revocation including some avant-garde influences, sporadic riffs where the time signatures are in constant flux, and there are moments where the record feels intimately hostile. I adore when Revocation do this as they’ve never shied away from writing “ugly music”, where the track develops, devolves, deteriorates into something insidious and intolerable, yet its the backbone of a song. The instrumental “The All Seeing” is a shining example as most bands would use this opportunity to show off their prowess whereasRevocation employ some of the most left-field playing and songwriting i think they’ve ever done. If we are moving back in this stranger direction where Revocation’s songwriting cannot be pinned down and continually transforms, then I am here for it.
In conclusion, New Gods, New Masters is an excellently apt title for it sees Revocation reborn all over again, only this time it appears they’re continuing down the road they starting to tread with The Outer Ones back in 2018. Upon the surface and deeper within their songwriting and ideas are accumulating to suggest they want to tackle stranger realms and more unconventional playing that takes audiences away from rudimentary technical death metal, towards planes where the left-field, avant-garde possibilities are in greater number. The guest slots throughout the record aren’t an issue either for you always know the immediate band themselves are the driving force here; its not like they suddenly become a cover band when the guest vocalist is brought in. Like The Outer Ones ilove that Revocation aren’t afraid to write music that feels antagonistic to your being there, seemingly querying why you turned up in that position in the first place and thus, if you’re to continue, let’s see how much you may endure. But as weird and juxtaposing as the aesthetics and songwriting becomes, it never loses focus of the end goal and why fans will be here to begin with; Revocation under David Davidson are truly back on form for while Netherheaven was decent, I did feel it was a step down from the band’s traditionally stellar calibre. But under this new record the band have returned with a seismic impact; the new additions to the band have proved their hiring in gold for the chemistry they share is electric and clearly bolsters Revocation’s desire to seek out antediluvian realms. I’m hoping New Gods, New Masters is the birth of a new era for the band for should they carry forth and hone this desire for otherworldly technical death metal, the sky is no longer the limit. It’s the benchmark.
