Revelation Unorthodox

After reading the horribly uninformed review already posted, I felt it was my duty to interject some knowledge and critical insight about this band and their music.

First off, this isn't a metal album. Most fans would lump this in with "Death Rock" or "Horror Punk", which is basically a sub class of punk played by fans of the Misfits and Samhain, and includes bands that were playing around the time of the Misfits in the early 80s like Mourning noise, Rosemary's Babies, and some of the more rocking goth bands. Most of the modern bands in this genre emulate the Misfits/Samhain formula quite blatantly, with the same kind of punk hooks, sped up doo-wop chorus lines, B-movie lyrics, and Danzig like vocals.

I first heard Devil's Whorehouse on a Horror Punk Comp. and wasn't that impressed. I thought they were better than a lot of the bands on offer, showing promise as a band that really "got" the idea of the misfits, but the track "We Live Again" was under produced. As I spent some time looking into the band I discovered that it featured two members from Marduk, and they had actually started as a Misfits/Samhain cover band. Interesting.

Revelation Unorthodox is another beast entirely. Imagine if Glenn Danzig decided to sing for Marduk under the stipulation that they reworked a few early era Danzig songs and made them heavier. Then imagine that this band got top notch production from Abyss studios and Tommy Tagtgren. Then, sweeten the pot with a cover of "Deathwish" by early 80's death rock gods Christian Death. If you’re already smacking your lips at the concept than this band won't disappoint in any way. If you could care less about anything I've mentioned above and think "horror punk" sounds like wank, than you might want to move on to something else.

For the rest of us Revelation Unorthodox holds some really enjoyable music. Tracks like "Pentagram Murder", "Swallow Your Soul", and "Blood Nymphoman" are black metal thrashers complete with crisp abyss like blast beats and driving fast chord changes. The vocals are pure Danzig appreciation and personally I think that's really fun and fresh. It's like updating the old misfits sound with more speed and power. Hoorah.

Then you have tracks like "Bondage Goddess", "Erotkill, "Funeral Dream", and "Blood Angels Recital" that reinterpret early Danzig, with twisted chuncky rifts and evil Elvis like swagger. You don't get quite the blues howl and powerful range that Glenn Danzig could pull off, but the vocals don't let you down. These songs are close enough in style to the original Danzig sound to make sense, but don't fall flat for lack of originality.

The third group of songs are tracks that borrow more from the Samhain era like, "Swallow Your Soul", "The Raven", and "Death From Beyond". These tracks have a post punk churn to them, heavy and wicked. I think the band should really invest in exploring the Samhain sound and melding it with black metal. They could really create something new and unexpected.

Lastly you have "We Live Again", "Howling", and "Blood Nymphoman" which are horror punk blasts of quick chords and frenzied drumming. "We Live Again" sounds like a Misfits outtake from the late 70s, and that's not a bad thing.

The "Deathwish" Cover is a real treat if you ever listened to Rozz Williams or Early Christian Death. It's a heavy surf death/rock classic, with chugging guitar and slipping bass scale back beats. It's not far from what Samhain was doing in spirit and comfortably fits on this release.

I think Devils Whorehouse could really develop into something beyond the sum of its parts depending on how they decide to proceed. Melding horror punk and black metal sounds like a great idea to me, and hey, the corpse paint is already applied for both. In the mean time, this is a hell of a fun album and better than anything Glenn Danzig or Jerry Only (somebody bunker bust the new misfits please!) has released in the last decade. Style up your devilocks and get ready to pound those guitars like fucking jack hammers, Devil's Whorehouse ain't no light weights.

Usually, in the metal community, any CD that starts off with a clip from a good horror movie (such as 'Evil Dead') is usually considered an amazing album for some reason. However, with the latest release from death rock (apparently such a style now exists) band "Devil's Whorehouse", entitled Revelation Unorthodox, this has proven to be the exception of this rule.

The album is definately something different. However, it really isn't all that good. The music is good and definately holds that good old rock and thrash and appeal that many a metal head grew up around. However, the album is just not exciting or enthralling at all.

Right from the start, you get a small clip from 'Evil Dead', followed by a song in tribute of it entitled 'Swallow Your Soul'. But the singing on the song alone is lacking until the chorus. It picks up, then drags, picks up, drags, solo, picks up, ends. That is sort of the vein of the entire album as you continue through it.

There aren't that many good songs on this one. 'Deathwish', 'Revelation Unorthodox' and 'Pentagram Murderer' are two of the tracks that stand out, primarily to the fact that they are some of the shortest ones and best suit the style the band is working with. On the others, there are many times where you will either like a certain part, or rather take a screwdriver and gouge out your brain for thinking this release might be good.

However, with a band name like "Devil's Whorehouse", you shouldn't really expect much. The music on the album is kind of stale, pulling off original rock riffs with a real lack of originality when it comes to the solo's and verses and bridges and so on and so forth. And if the music is the best part of the album, what does that say about the rest? Sure 'Swallow Your Soul' is catchy, but that's about it.

The lyrics are somewhat uncreative as well when you read them. A few changed words here and there might have spiced things up a bit for those who pay attention to them, but the real drawback are the vocals through the album. Sometimes, like on 'Pentagram Murderer', they fit perfectly are can create an amazing track that will make you want to create a massive mosh pit in your room. But then, there are some tracks like the overly drawn out 'Funeral Dream' that make you want to take the CD and break it into a million teeny tiny pieces.

With really lacking music and most-of-the-time horrid vocal and lyric construction, the album is best left on the store's shelves then in your thoughts and collection. Keep the money it would cost to buy the album. Sure it was produced excellently by Tommy Tagtgren, but is that really any reason to buy a CD? If it is, then you'll learn the hard way that just because it's produced by one of the best won't make it the best.