Triumph.Genocide.Antichrist

Of all the war metal bands I've listened to, Revenge is easily one of the most chaotic bands I've ever listened to. Their style has mainly consisted of noisy grindcore-like war metal, which has been a signature style since James Read's early days with Conqueror. There aren't a lot of bands out there that can replicate the style besides Damaar, and even they felt more smooth and listenable. While many would complain that all of their albums sound the same and don't differentiate from each other sonically, one album that does stand out the most from their discography would be "Triumph.Genocide.Antichrist". While it has its intense moments, it can also have some rather catchy and great moments.

Let's start off with the instruments. Like I said in the previous paragraph, their albums mainly consist of noisy grindcore-like war metal, and "Triumph.Genocide.Antichrist" is no exception. With "Decimation Antichrist" starting off the album with some high-pitched noises and deep growling before cutting to some militarized drumming, the listeners already know they're in for a bad time. The guitars are one of the stronger portions of the album, with its riffs ranging from some groovy black/death metal to some noisy grindcore-like riffs. Not only does the drums beat in technical militarized patterns, but its intense beating in many parts set in the chaotic atmosphere extremely well. Some of the best instruments on this album would be in the tracks "Blood of My Blood", "Heathen Hammer", and "Attack the Enslaver". These songs have more slower and catchy parts than most of the other tracks on here, with "Blood of My Blood" in particular having some of the best guitar riffs in Revenge's discography with its more groovy and catchy sound. The more intense parts are fantastic, and its slower moments are just as good, if not better.

The vocals are also great. James Read's vocals in Conqueror were okay, but he took them a step further when he formed Revenge. Here, his vocals are really high-pitched, and he has a crazed and angry personality in them. While they may sound weird at first, his raging voice is fitting to the jumbled mess of the instruments, and enhances the brutal and fierce atmosphere. Pete Helmkamp also does the backing vocals, which mainly consist of deep, low-pitched growls. These growls further execute the hateful personality of Reed, and add in some depth to the instruments. Throughout the album, the raspy, furious vocals flow well to the instruments, and they would be a signature in Revenge's sound.

Even the lyrics are pretty good. Take the lyrics to "Blood Division" for example, where this verse quotes:

In the shadow of reality your strike grows weak
Rule and enslave or prepare to serve
The crown of shame breaks your spine
The knife and the dogs await
Slave must kneel

What I just showed is literally the entire lyrics to "Blood Division". Most of their lyrics are very short, and don't offer a lot in the storytelling. However, the lyrics are very descriptive in describing the feeling of being invaded by a strong force. Not only that, but the intense atmosphere of the instruments and the inflamed personality of Reed enhance the lyrics by making the events sound even more brutal and severe. The rest of the lyrics are like this, and while I would've wanted them to be longer, they're still descriptive enough to be good.

While this unconventional sound of Revenge may initially feel uncomfortable and downright bad, deep down, there is a lot to love with this record. The instruments balance the grindcore-like moments and groovy and technical moments well, the infuriating vocals are very impactful to the instruments, and the short lyrics are poetic enough to picture the details of war and genocide. If you're looking for some bombastic war metal mixed with some catchy riffs, "Triumph.Genocide.Antichrist" is the perfect album for you.

I've been starting to get more into other Black Metal (still very very picky about it), but for years, as far as I was concerned, this was the only style of black metal that existed. War-Metal brought to us by some of the same folks that brought us death metal favorites Angel Corpse, the under-appreciated Sacramentary Abolishment, and also Conqueror, who these guys sound almost exactly like, being as they're pretty much the exact same band, which for me, is a good thing. Fucking extreme shit. Non-stop blastbeats, angry, field-of-1000-saws guitar sounds, and stark raving psychotic screaming to round the whole thing out. This album is a gift to lovers of the Blasphemy school of simplistic, intense, extreme black metal, but is at the same time a fist in the face of people who want more refined sounds and don't appreciate total black hell armageddon on record. The people who don't like it, despise it, and the people who do can't get enough. Those of us who appreciate this noise from hell to help us celebrate the hideous forthcoming war that will rage for centuries, can rest easy, knowing that it never lets up for a second, but they've done a great job keeping it all interesting, never playing an unending tempo for too long or subjecting us to a lame riff. The whole thing has a kind of hard to pinpoint "catchiness" to it, which is imperative in this style, provided by the structured vocal patterns these guys have. They also gear down periodically, treating us to a soul destroying slow riff, but never for long. The speed gets back up quick, with that voice barking at you, berating you with his hideous screeching yell. This is great stuff. My favorite is track 5, Annihilate Or Serve. This is a great "catchy" (that damn out of place word again...) track with the pick-across-the-strings trick these guys employ throughout the album being used heavily. Can't end the review without mentioning the amazing drum work of J. Read, who is one of the best drummers in the underground, as proven here and in Axis of Advance. He plays as fast as possible, but maintains his own style, which in this day and age of drummers that are nearly impossible to tell apart, is great to see. Great album. Buy this if your a fan of Blasphemy, Beherit, or anything like that. Avoid at all costs if those bands are too primitive, extreme, one dimensional, or whatever other reason for you. Leave this to us.

My friend first introduced me to this band last summer, and at the time I found them intriguing. I saw the pictures of J. Read and Pete Helkamp in bullet belts and other such militaristic insignia, was given a copy of the record, listened to it once , and thought "kewl". I then promptly forgot about them.

But, with the erection of my friend's Toronto-based message board, there came a barrage of internet arguments and flame wars centered around war metal; principle bands of discussion being Revenge and Blasphemy. I found my interest rekindled. And I have concluded that Revenge, Conquerer and Blasphemy are all the SAME BAND, given that they all sound the same, they all contribute to each other and the music is just so ridiculously simplistic that there just is'nt room for more than one song in this genre.

When I shared this opinion with my Torontonian comrades, I was met with vitriolic sentiments only. I was dubbed a "pussy" who could not handle real metal. Quite frankly, if Revenge is real metal, I can most certainly handle it, but I just don't like it at all. Why? Because a monkey could record a fucking Revenge album in a day. No, several minutes because all you have to do is get someone to do Sloppy hyperblasts while you play Power chords in random proggression on your squire "strat" and scream into a microphone.

Which leads us to the "musical" aspect of this band. I wil now describe a typical Revenge song, because there is more or less no distinction between any of the songs on this album, or any of their others:
5 seconds of barely audible static. Sloppy drum fill . Guitar comes in, which sounds the same as the introduction. Hyperblasts, vocals and guitar all at once, which then begin to head in seperate directions as they are improvised. Every now and then, another guitar track comes in which is just the guitarist dragging his pick down the strings. Wait, breakdown, no, that's J. Read dropping his drumsticks so he can take a break because he is tired.

End.

Ok, now the positive aspects. Yes, there is some song distinction, but a very small amount. Yes, ther is some musical inegrity, well, not "musical" but physical, in that it takes some strength and dexterity to be that fast. Brutality? There's lots of that.

But the mere fact that they are brutal shopuld not mean we have to worship them as some kind of innovative talent. I honestly don't mind listening to them in a very drunk state, but that should further exemplify their shitty simplicity. And to all those who say that Revenge bashers are just pussies, I say you are retarded. To defend them simply because they are brutal is just fathomlessly stupid. Sure, I'm a fan of vulgarity and brutality, but only to a certain degree. When you shit into a microphone to sell records and an image of brutality, and then try to pass it off as music, you just look like an idiot. It's the same as all who hate emo/mallcore/metalcore bands and then get told that they just don't "understand" it. The fifteen percent I gave this turd was for the drunken fun I have listening to it and for the fact that the members of Revenge have given birth to a metal phenomenon and fanbase simply by making music my dog could concieve of.

Don't bother buying this, just go get drunk at a party and wait for a drunk metalhead to put it on.

Oh man, this album fucking rules. Just sayin'. When I first bought it, I listened to it every night as I went to sleep for a whole month. Addictive stuff!

What kind of music is it? A weird hybrid of brutal death and black metal, I'd say. LOTS of blast beats, intense screamed vocals (with some backup vocals provided by Satan), groovin' bass lines (I'm not lying, the bass player just totally grooves for 3/4 of the album), and overdistorted guitar. Sadly, the guitar is a bit low in the mix, so during the more blasty parts, you have to rely on the bass frequencies to hear what riffs are being played. The riffs aren't even the main focus of the album, though... its the drums! My goodness! The drums! With this album, J. Read has become one of my top 10 favorite drummers ever! Considering how limited his actual style is, the drum performance always keeps me captivated... the brutality level is so high at all times, it's actually laughter-inducing at points!

On another note, I really wish I could comment on the lyrics, but they aren't printed. From what I can decipher from the screams, nearly every song has to with the Superion. I'm not familiar with the subject matter, but it sounds interesting. The music is still highly enticing even with my ignorance toward the lyrical content.

Highlights of the album? Well, if you like one song, you like the whole album. It's a very consistent affair. My favorite track is Blood of my Blood, which Revenge used to open their set at their shows. The drum buildup at the beginning (and again toward the end), the screaming ("BLOOD! OF MY BLOOOOOOOD!")... its very difficult to explain why, but its just AWESOME.

Recommended for war metallers, BM fans who can tolerate lots of blast beats, and DM fans who can tolerate screamed vox and simplistic riffs.