EP REVIEW: Cry havoc! Rex Shachath unleash rebellious fury on Revocation of the Blood Elect

LET'S be straight here there is death metal, and then there is death metal - two distinct forms of the one art form. One is all about the virtuoso showmanship, the other adds in a social conscience to the dexterous playing.

Rex Shachath on this, their second ep are of the latter camp. Shredding all in their path 'Revocation of the Blood Elect' is a socially aware and rebellious rant, agitating towards a future rid of the rulers and the religious from the Northern Irish metallers.

Fuelled by the playing of Andrew Pennington and Jonathan Francis vocalist and lyricist Dave Connolly is channeling the anarcho-philosophers of western Europe from the French Revolution to the 21st Century.

Opener 'Atonement Through Atrocity' envisages the great and mighty being slaughtered by a populace fed up with being raped of its resources and rights.

Connolly quotes Denis Diderot in the blurb accompanying the release: "Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."

Where punk in the 70s saw bands like Crass and SLF throw society's foibles and failings into sharp focus, it now seems that lying underground the likes of Rex Shachath are those holding the deathly lights upon this screwed up society.

Connolly explained: "This record focuses on many topics, but the most prevalent is the state of society and the natural world today.

"A track like 'Colossus Rise' deals with the overall state of the earth and how humanity is picking up the pace in its destruction for financial gain.

"Whereas the title track sees those in positions of power overthrown and put to the sword by those who have endured oppression, and watched the natural world struggle while the 'powerful' profit from the destruction of man and earth. 'Atonement Through Atrocity', much like the title track sees those who have trampled the underdog finally get the teeth end of the victim.

"In conclusion mankind will destroy itself as long as it allows those in positions of power continue to rule as they do, without any care for fellow man and the earth on which we live"

"In dealing with the everyday struggle we see the effects of daily life cripple the minds of many and this rears its head throughout the EP especially in the track 'Within the Temple of Disgust' which also features a friend of ours Ben McCrow (Gorerotted, The Rotted, Extreme Noise Terror) on guest vocals.

Got that? You should - like Kataklysm Rex Shachath have harnessed musical prowess with the type of agitatory lyrics and attitudes many could learn from.

Revocation of the Blood Elect is out now on Great Dane Records
Review by Jonny