When Revocation released their absolutely amazing EP “Teratogenesis” last year, the bar was set incredibly high for their next full length. Now I’m not discrediting the bands three previous albums. But I definitely dug the “Teratogenesis” EP significantly more than all of Revocations prior work. And a year after this awesome EP, the Massachusetts metallers are back with another release. This time it’s a self titled album, “Revocation”.Self titled albums often signify defining moments in bands’ careers. Think about Metallica, and remember "The Black Album" is actually a self titled. The band has received a ton of attention leading up to the release of this album and pretty much in general. That means it’s incredibly important for Revocation to cement themselves as mainstays in the modern metal scene with this album. All previous work needs to lead up to the success that is this self titled album.
This album does a great job at combining the more straightforward technical thrash riffs that made “Teratogenesis” so entertaining with the moments of experimental fun progressive instrumentation that has made previous Revocation work so impressive. A perfect combination of the two is what I hear after spinning “Revocation” multiple times. There are plenty of kickass riffs, like the the first and second riffs in the first track of the album “The Hive”. But there’s plenty of awesome spots of progression and experimentation. Some easy examples are the classical guitar in "Archfiend", tremolo abuse in "Numbing Agent" and the obvious and highly hyped banjo interlude in "Invidious".
Tracks like "Entombed by Wealth" that combine heavy, mid-paced, grooving, thrash riffs with spider-like fingerwork and blazingly, furious riffing may be the backbone of this album, but David Davidson’s solo work is what really adds the flair to this album, just like the rest of Revocation’s catalog. His soloing is jazzy, classic rocky and bluesly, furiously thrash and all around best described as fun and honestly, flamboyant. The man is a god of lead guitar, there’s nothing more to say. He combines every aspect of modern metal soloing into his own recognizable style. The evil metal and epic soloing, like in outro track "A Visitation" are awesome, but the jazzy and bluesly styles are what really round out Davidson’s soloing. It’s all just so fun and great.
This album really isn’t that much different than previous Revocation albums, just better. I mean the riff around 4 minutes in killer, epic melodic track "The Gift You Gave" is very reminiscent of the intro of "Dismantle the Dictator", the band’s first big splash in the metal world. Instrumental track "Spastic" is pretty offbeat, groovy, a little crazy, and is a trademark Revocation instrumental track. This album really doesn’t bring that much new to the table, but the band is clearly more focused than ever at truly bringing the best the trademark Revocation sound can offer. Maybe that’s why it’s self titled. Or maybe they didn’t think into that much and just didn’t have a better title. Who knows?
“Revocation” was released on August 6th on the fantastic Relapse Records. This album is definitely worth checking out, I mean there’s a full album stream that I’ve clued you in on release day and I’ll link again below. There is no reason not to spin this one, and I really can’t imagine any Revocation fan not enjoying at least a little bit. I’m definitely stoked on it and it’s my thrash album of the year so far, beating out a solid records. Revocation really does everything right on this one. “Revocation” gets 9.5/10.
-Trisolino
