Revocation - Revocation
Relapse
Thrash/Death
10 songs (47:06)
Release year: 2013
Revocation Myspace, Relapse
Reviewed by Charles
Huh, two thrash reviews in a week, that is unusual. Revocation’s last album, Chaos of Forms, was (for me) one of the most enjoyable releases of its kind in recent years. It was a flashy, show-offy album and all the better for it, mixing together the most technical wings of both thrash and death metals. Mostly, I liked it because it was fun, packed with little flourishes like the organ solo in The Watchers, or the occasional switch into funkier riffing.

With this in mind, the first couple of plays of this new self-titled release left me a little disappointed. On reflection, this may have been unfair on the band: thinking back to Chaos of Forms, it was always the ear-catching ornaments that defined the album for me, but these were always balanced against a heavier, more death metal-inclined approach at other points. Hence when I listened to Revocation and found various tracks using more mid-tempo, deathcore-influenced ideas my first reaction was to peg this as a more prosaic album than its predecessor. But when playing the two back-to-back it is obvious that those elements were always there- I just forgot about them.

That said, maybe the balance between the different elements has shifted very slightly. There are a few tracks here- Archfiend is a good example- that I find slightly stodgy. Too walking-pace, with riffs that aim for complex, interwoven polyphony rather than flamboyant tech-thrash energy. Similar things could be said for some other tracks here, too: perhaps Fracked or The Gift You Gave, which are based around tightly coiled mid-tempo grooves. However, I do not want to overstate the case here. Each of these songs, as you’d expect with Revocation, is multifaceted and there are invariably more ideas at play. The Gift You Gave, in particular, starts life as what seems like relatively pedestrian melodeath, before the guitars start to pickout much more interesting shapes later in the track. Obviously, there are always great solos close at hand, also.

Moreover, it would be wrong to suggest that the other side to the band is not present. See for example Invidious, which is a breakneck, Rust In Peace-inspired speed metal featuring a sudden Deliverance-style banjo break. There is also the terribly-named “Spastic”, which despite its stupid title is an ingeniously twisting and turning instrumental. Hence there is a lot going on within Revocation, undoubtedly a lot more than just virtuosic speed metal, even if in my view these remain the bits that stay with you for longer.

Killing Songs :
Invidious, The Hive
Charles quoted 75 / 100
Other albums by Revocation that we have reviewed:
Revocation - Chaos Of Forms reviewed by Charles and quoted 88 / 100
Revocation - Existence Is Futile reviewed by Kyle and quoted 80 / 100
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