Grand Tidal Rave

Rev 16:8 belong to the group of bands that have split up much too soon. This applies even considering the fact that their second album was noticeably weaker than the staggering debut. "Grand Tidal Rave" shows a very passionate band. They master the whole range of their genre in an impressive manner. To specify this statement, their genre is black metal without omnipresent keyboards, opera singing or endless "suicidal" rhythms. Their passion lies in playing an intensive and pure kind of black metal. The name of their record label fits very well with their music, because Rev 16:8 really create a temple of darkness. So let me talk about its individual components.

A full and rich sound lays the fundament. There´s absolutely nothing to find fault in view of the forceful guitars and the sophisticated drumming. The raw and dark voice may be described as typical for the genre. Exaggerating a bit, one might say that the vocals just achieve an average quality. But honestly spoken, I like black metal standards and therefore I appreciate this vocal performance. It matches with the music in a convincing way. Overall, the dense sound provides the album with a significant advantage.

The songwriting and the stylistic variety are the pillars of the temple. Although Rev 16:8 do not exceed the black metal limits, they offer a great diversified repertoire. One reason for this is surely that the energizing breaks are very well placed. Swedish bands often have a knack for the more or less perfect combination of brutal high speed parts and malignant melodies. Especially the latter contributes to the hellish atmosphere. One might argue that the combination described above is not so unusual. I am the first to admit that. But the infectious nature of the band´s performance makes the difference. On top of this is the fact that you will not find a letdown on this full-length, even if you take utmost care. The album therefore offers a fantastic flow and emanates an oppressive feeling, to which one cannot remain indifferent. The aura of this output reminds me of the atmosphere that Necrophobic create in their best moments. And as we all know, Necrophobic are truly experts of their business.

The building is ornamented by the highlights of the album, too many to mention individually by name. I will therefore focus on three examples. "Crowning the Nameless Heir" starts with a thick mighty riff that impressively emphasizes the first line of the text "the light will never find me". It builds up tension before the song explodes due to a hyper fast section. The title track is certainly no less exciting while being crowned by its slowly killing chorus. The mid-tempo part that turns into the fade-out is also admirable. The final tune, "Locust Fields Forever", offers mysterious cautious riffs before the band picks up speed for the last time.

At the end of the day, a wonderful temple has been built up. Rev 16:8 deserves praise for being the capable architects. Too bad that they never built again such a monument.

This is some form of supergroup with some talented musicians from bands such as IXXI, Decadence and whatnot, yet I hadn’t heard of them previous to this. And originally ex-Dark Funeral man Themgoroth was supposed to do the vocals, but left during recording. Rev 16:8 were previously known as Bloodshed, but I can’t say I’ve heard of them either. Considering the label behind the release I figured it to be either typically old school Scandinavian death metal or typically Scandinavian black metal, and it didn’t take long before I realized it was the latter one.

Names such as Marduk, Dark Funeral, Sorhin and Thy Primordial goes through my mind. This is without a doubt Swedish black metal anno mid to late 90ies, but presented in a modern manner. The sound is hefty, and I mean chunky-as-hell. A thick wall of sound comes roaming at you as soon as the first riff sets in, and you’ll have to strap yourself in to not get blown out your chair. And I guess that’s partly where the modernity comes in, as an older black metal recording never would’ve sounded like this. I know a lot of people will whine, just like they did about Dark Funeral’s "Diabolis interium", but I like it!

"Grand tidal rave" not only sounds brutal, but it’s also some fast, unrelenting shit, I tell you. Most of the material is set at a blasting tempo, with slick, melodic guitar work keeping the brutality at a medium level. And there are a lot of great guitar lines, just reeking of melody and catchiness, and yet it never gets over-the-top. While they certainly know how to blast they offer some space to slower tunes, where the heaviness of the sound seizes control. So there’s enough variety in the mix to not get repetitive at mindnumbing blazing speed, which is the case for a lot of the faster black metal acts.

But despite all the good qualities I’ve just mentioned, the album does have its downers. For instance I think it’s a bit too long, at least ten minutes too long. 51 minutes of the same thing does still get a bit too rich for my blood, and 35-40 minutes would’ve been a lot more pleasing. And there’s also something about the vocals that just doesn’t seem right, it doesn’t fit 100% with the music. Not that it’s in any way bad black metal screams, most definitely not. But vocal-wise it doesn’t have that same harsh, aggressive attitude that the music carries. And eventhough there’s some killer material on here, it still seems to lack those extreme hooks that makes you keep coming back. Sure, when I put the record on I certainly dig along, but when it’s over nothing forces me to press play once more. Maybe that has to do with the lengthy album, I don’t know. But I’d recommend the album any day.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net