Review by Joseph Michael
Editor’s Note: As you can tell from the past coverage I’ve given to Revocation on this site, I absolutely love the band and would have reviewed the album myself. But, my review would have been predictable and hence I decided to bring in a different perspective. So just to clarify, this review by Joseph Michael doesn’t reflect my own opinion of the album.
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For those of you who’re new or unfamiliar, Revocation is an American technical death metal band from Boston, Massachusetts founded by guitarist/vocalist David Davidson, drummer Phil Dubois-Coyne and ex bassist Anthony Buda, who’s now with the band Squalor. They changed from their original name Cryptic Warning to Revocation in 2006, and have released three studio albums and an EP. Now, we have the obligatory self-titled full-length release. American Technical Death Metal? Sounds scary. Let’s Dive in.
Disclaimer: I hate this style of vocals. The tone and the truncated phrasing indicative of this style make me sick to my stomach. Like any style, some of these guys are exciting and exhibit great technique, but the affected vocal thing in metal has gone too far. So now you know my stance on the vocals. This review will not be about that, because this record has some really great guitar moments.
The album starts off with a track titled “The Hive”, and yes, it sounds like the band is furiously running away from a swarm of bees, like a touretts syndrome patient somehow joined a metal band and gave them all his prescription of Ritalin.
“Scattering The Llock” has the same cliché staccato death/black angular guitar work in the rhythm sections with some odd time stuff thrown in. The band is tight but so is a tranny prostitute in Malaysia. The triple meter guitar work is pretty killer though. The leads remind me of Cynic, which is a good thing. I don’t mind the guttural stuff i.e. the lower register vocals. It’s when the singer starts getting all mall-core that really turns me off. The Malaysian tranny strikes again.
The guitar work overall is really stellar. Scattering the flock has some nice Pettrucci-style vibrato bar work, the harmonies run from Pachelbel sweet to semi-tone clusters of pure evil. I personally would listen to this guitarist if he was playing in a different band, or maybe I’d listen to this band if they had a different singer. My favorite moment on the record is the maniacal solo in the song “Invidious”. Like Marty Friedman meets Bartok, Holdsworth without the godlike legato.
Besides the vocals, a huge pet peeve I have is the almost mandatory acoustic guitar half-time breakdowns in songs of this genre. I blame Opeth. Imagine you’re in the pit and then all of a sudden you get vagged on by some twinkling major key arpeggios at 68 bpm!
Are the musicians top notch? Yes. Could I hum you one of these songs? Or should I say grunt one? No. Is it produced well? I think so.
Bottom line: I like great singers, great musicians, great songs and great production: two out of four ain’t bad.
Rating: 2/4
About the reviewer: Joseph Michael Is the lead singer for NWOTHM band White Wizzard. He also runs the independent Label HRX Records. For more information or just to tell him to fuck off, visit: facebook.com/josephmichaelmusic and hrxrecords.com/josephmichael.
Record Label: Relapse
Release Date:
August 6th 2013
Track Listing:
1. The Hive
2. Scattering the Flock
3. Arch Fiend
4. Numbing Agents
5. Fracked
6. The Gift You Gave
7. Invidious
8. Spastic
9. Entombed By Wealth
10. A Visitation