The first track, ‘Arbiters of the Apocalypse’ starts the album off strong. Like the Mountain from Game of Thrones strong. The tech death flecked thrash riffs and jackhammer double kick drumming are tighter than that lad who never puts his hand in his pocket at the pub. The bass thunders along in the background throwing a ton weight into the mix and the vocals are sublime, jumping effortlessly between aggressive death snarls and an old school almost melodic thrash style. The solos are, as usual, furious, melodic and so damn cool! A fantastic opener!
‘Theater of Horror’ starts off with a fade in of powerful drumming before the guitars, bass and vocals burst your eardrums with technical malice. There is so much death metal influence present, it’s wondrous and heavier than that girl who’s eyeing you up like you’re a Sunday roast. The leadwork of vocalist Dave Davidson is something to behold. Melodic, technical and never a dull moment throughout, you’ll be air guitaring your heart out.
The albums third track, ‘Monolithic Ignorance’ can be described with one word: angry. It’s fast, it’s supreme in its technical composition and it’s gonna give you one hell of a sore neck! The thrashy drumbeat, frantic fretwork and thoroughly enraged vocal attack will mess you up. The solo will have you scooping your face off the floor with a mop, don’t bother trying to reattach it, it’s gone.
‘Crumbling Imperium’ instantly assaults you with technical prowess and pure power. The thing that astounds me most about Revocation is their ability to hit melody, technicality and heaviness with an amazing progressive edge to their sound, and this track has it by the barrel. The vocals are incredible, loads of emotion seeps through the outward anger. The drumming is so good, dancing from the extreme to groovy and the bass work is so fluid. The leadwork is insane, rivalling the all time greats like Jeff Waters, Marty Friedman and Dave Mustaine.
The fifth track ‘Communion’ is just pure straight up thrash, with an extra helping of apoplectic rage and a large side order of technical proficiency. These guys know how to play, throwing out delicious riffs, supersonic drumming and crushing basslines like it’s metalhead Christmas. Davidson’s vocals are on point yet again, and the leadwork is truly delightful.
‘The Exaltation’, the albums instrumental, is up next with great riffing and stellar drumming. The bass is heavy and pulverising and the leadwork will leave you red-faced and panting, hoping no one has noticed you’ve made a mess of your pants. The song then breaks into one of the best tech riffs heard in quite some time. It’s an absolute joy to listen to and the razor sharp drums are the prefect accompaniment. Another top shelf solo flies out of nowhere, you know, because the first one didn’t ruin you enough. Some find instrumentals boring, listen to this and find out how wrong you are.
Seventh track ‘Profanum Vulgus’ is so packed with death metal it explodes from the get go, covering you in riffy viscera. The drumming will destroy you, the bass will suffocate you, and the vocals will make you want to punch your irritating coworker square in the face! It’s so so angry, like your wife when you forget her birthday. Solos fly out like bullets from an MG.42 and your head will bang, trust me. A favourite of this album.
‘Copernican Heresy’ doesn’t give you time to catch your breath after the last track, it just grabs you by the balls and kicks you in the teeth. The speed and aggression is beyond its critical limit, it’s incredible. The riffage astounding and the drumming intense! The solo is absolutely beautiful in the most brutal sense of the word. The vocals will make you angry at, well, pretty much everything.
‘Only the Spineless Survive’ is not only a great song title but a great song as well. It’s progressive and melodic in places, brutal in others and it just works. There’s a sense of unease, the spoken word vocals add a great sense of atmosphere before the death metal brutality reignites and chaotic leadwork dissolves your brain to grey goop.
‘Cleaving Giants of Ice’ is wonderfully melodic. Showcasing the bands ability to write beautiful heavy music. The vocal work is fantastic, going from heavy and aggressive to eerily sang passages which are complimented by flawless, emotive guitar riffs and groove packed drumming. The guitar leads perfectly match the feeling of the song.
How do you make a Slayer song heavier than Slayer? Ask Revocation. The final track, a cover of ‘Altar of Sacrifice’ just takes the original and intensifies it with perfect production and an intense vocal attack. The wildly chaotic leads are note perfect and the riffs and drums are spot on as new life is breathed into a thrash classic. A truly brilliant end to an unreal album!
Fans of thrash and technical death metal do yourselves a favour and pick up this absolute gem. It’s packed full of yummy riffy heavy goodness. I guarantee you’ll have it on heavy rotation for months!
Review by Phil Noonan.
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