Revocation

This is an album that really surprised me. I heard a couple tracks from it via downloading and then I decided to get it, figuring I needed some more blackened death. Suffice to say, when it arrived, I was not expecting it to be as good as it turned out to be!

First, the basics: this is very blackened death metal.... I'd almost go as far as to say it's "deathened black metal": the aesthetic and a lot of the riffs are firmly in the black metal territory, it's just a bit too technical and brutal to be straight black metal. The vocals are a black metal shriek as opposed to a death metal growl and the guitar tone has some of the noisiness you might expect from black metal---but don't worry, all the riffs are perfectly clear and easy to make out.

The drumming is surprisingly varied and quite competent. Since I had noticed that the drummer on this album was Emil Dragutinovic (ex-Marduk), I expected something of a blastfest. However, he shows here that he can be quite tasteful. The album is full of slower, more midpaced parts, including the over two minute intro the first song of the album, which is quite moody and atmospheric. Of course, it blasts in good with a canonical black metal riff, before settling back down into a midpaced groove.

What sells this album, though, is the riffing... it's just stellar. Somehow Svartz and Kottelin pulled off the perfect mix of death and black metal riffing. Normally I'm somewhat put off by blackened death metal, because it lacks the atmosphere of black metal and the brutality of death metal---which usually leaves it stangnant and boring. But here the riffs fly at you, fast and furious. As mentioned before, there is a strong sense of black metal on this album. Lots of the riffs here sound like more technical versions of riffs that wouldn't be out of place in Emperor's classic Nightside Eclipse.

One thing I feel needs to mentioned about the album are the apparent keyboards. No one is credited for keys in the booklet, but there are definitely keys behind some of the riffs and there's a break in the epic track "Bloodgate" that features keyboards prominently. Maybe I'm hearing something wrong... but I find it odd that they didn't credit anyone. Nonetheless, the keyboards (or whatever) add greatly to the sound, enhancing the killer atmosphere!

What's wrong with this album? Not much... but if I had a complaint it's that the album is something a bit too furious and varied. I have a hard time picking out individual songs (each is loaded with such a ridiculous amount of riffs) and some of the more blackened riffs seem like such slight modifications on each other that it's hard to keep track. Also, on some speakers I've listened to this album on, the blast beats seem to cause the rest of the music to become a bit quieter... like the drumming is taking up too much space in the audio spectrum. However, when listened to on quality speakers, it sounds fantastic, with the production being pretty much perfect.

A great effort, and one that no one should miss out on. Like II said, I was surprised as hell when I heard it; maybe you will be surprised as well!