The ninth album from tech-death masters Revocation, and the recording debut for incoming members Alex Weber (bass) and Harry Lannon (rhythm guitar / backing vocals), New Gods, New Masters finds the band fired up and tearing through nine new tracks over the course of 45 blistering minutes. With guest spots from Jonny Davy (JFAC), Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation), Gilad Hekselman, and Luc Lemay (Gorguts), New Gods, New Masters feels like a defiant new beginning for the band, and oh lord does it make good on the creepy promise of its darkly evocative artwork.
The album kicks off with the title track, a churning maelstrom of noise that finds the band deftly locating a melody amidst a gruelling, mid-tempo riff, before unleashing a crushing death metal assault that has an almost visceral effect upon the listener. If that was all the track had to offer, we’d be off to an impressive start but, with the band locating a progressive eye at the heart of the storm, the result is an imperious opening number that highlights Revocation’s many strengths both as songwriters and musicians. Next up, the staccato pulse of Sarcophagi Of The Soul keeps the listener guessing as to where the next blow will land, Revocation employing jazz elements alongside more traditional tech-death tropes. As with the opening track, it’s a masterclass in extremity, and it’s hard not to feel a sense of awe at Revocation’s ongoing musical progression.
The band once again adopt an imperious stance on the monumental Confines Of Infinity, a doom-laden monster that finds Cattle Decapitation’s Travis Ryan popping up to offer some truly inhuman vocals. Simply crushing, it finds the album at its heaviest – no mean feat considering the opening pair of songs – and woe betide the unprepared who find themselves in its path. Offering something of a dark groove, albeit a tumultuously heavy one, Dystopian Vermin is anchored by some suitably churning bass, although the electrifying riff nods more to thrash in its diamond-edged delivery. An easier song than the more technical fare that precedes it, it serves as something of a reset after Confines Of Infinity, providing the listener with a fine opportunity to shred their vertebrae in the process.
A surprisingly airy track, Despiritualized relies on the sort of discordant riffing that the likes of Cave In and Botch made their stock in trade back in the old Hydra Head days, crossed with elements of Opeth. The result is a prog-infused track that once again finds the listener caught between the desire to headbang and the need to simply sit quietly in order to absorb quite what the band is up to. Ultimately, such is the intensity and replayability of the album, that you’ll do both, with the urge to move trumping all other concerns when first you hit play. The band’s dizzying technicality arguably reaches a peak with the instrumental piece, The All Seeing, which finds Gilad Hekselman adding his unique skills to the mix. In contrast, the stabbing might of Data Corpse offers few concessions, the band relying on untrammelled brutality to bring the listener to heel.
Another guest spot finds Job For A Cowboy’s Jonny Davy launching himself at Cronenberged with customary gusto. Short and sharp, it offers some of the album’s most impressive bass work, providing you can survive the savage curtain of guitar that surrounds it. This nasty little beast concludes with the epic-length Buried Epoch, a fiery finale featuring Luc Lemay. One last showcase for the band’s astonishing skills, Buried Epoch allows Revocation the necessary space to truly flex their musical muscles, and it makes for a deeply satisfying finale to a record that does not once take its foot off the gas.
New Gods, New Masters is that all too rare of beasts – a heavy metal album that packs a visceral punch and a technical marvel that rewards endless replays. Over the course of these nine tracks, Revocation offer a masterclass in tempering technicality with emotionally-charged metal, and the result is quite simply one of the finest metal albums you’ll hear all year – whatever the genre. With potent guest spots adding further depth to the band’s multifaceted compositions, New Gods, New Masters is simply exceptional in every possible way. 9.5/10
