REVOCATION

Nearly 20 years have passed since David Davidson adopted a new name for his burgeoning metal band, swapping CRYPTIC WARNING for the more succinct and strident REVOCATION. Since then, the guitarist's vision has been laid out for all to see: merciless, thrash-powered death metal with a strong technical edge and an eye for destructive detail. Every subsequent album that the Boston crew have released has added to their inestimable legacy. One of the few modern bands to neatly sidestep obvious genre limitations, REVOCATION have become the consummate, brutal modern metal band, with self-proclaimed standards of viciousness and vigor that casually outweigh those of the majority of credible competition. As lyrically ferocious and intelligent as ever, "New Gods, New Masters" sustains the momentum that has propelled them through two decades of rabid service. Having taken no prisoners in the past, Davidson is not about to relinquish his reputation now. This time around, all of humanity is getting a slap.

Part of REVOCATION's brilliance lies in how they have consistently stretched technical boundaries while never forgetting that the primary purpose of the exercise is to crush skulls and break necks. "New Gods, New Masters" takes both of those key aspects of the band's sound and shoves them forcefully down the listener's earholes, with as much intensity and bile as possible. The band's ninth album begins as it should, with a colossal, tar-thick guitar tone that threatens the fabric of reality, and a bruising, fast-paced attack that refuses to be ignored. The title track's bravura display of aggression is the perfect doorway into this album's unforgiving nature. REVOCATION are full of great ideas and ingenious twists on the death metal formula, but when all four members combine, an earthy, primitive rush prevails. Many of this album's finest moments arrive when the quartet is screaming ahead at full throttle, matching the warped energy of Davidson's lyrics with cautionary threats of their own. "Sarcophagi Of The Soul" grinds the modern world's phone obsession into the dust with its heel, as barbarous melo-death collides with suffocating thrash, leaving a trail of broken fingers and scorched tech in their wake. Waist-deep in existential weariness, "Confines Of Infinity" is a terrifying squall of violence and precision, with a genuinely disturbing vocal cameo from CATTLE DECAPITATION's Travis Ryan, and some of the dirtiest, most mean-spirited chugging of the year.

There are numerous moments that hammer home REVOCATION's deathly credentials, but the real magic lurks in parallel moments of perverse ingenuity. "Dystopian Vermin" grimly recounts the state of things and humanity's wild addiction to inhuman solutions while rattling through the gears, riffs piling up like crumpled vehicles after a high-speed crash, and gleefully intricate solos that skillfully pierce the carnage, allowing bright light to shine from the bloody mess of metal. The number of astonishing riffs on this album is ridiculous, and every one of them is played with unstoppable force. But beyond its stench of motorized death, "New Gods, New Masters" is also driven by elite musicianship, and "The All Seeing" is the finest example yet of REVOCATION's collective efficacy. Aside from having been graced by the mercurial, six-string presence of jazz guitarist Gilad Hekselman, this instrumental whirlwind is the band's most radical and subversive five minutes to date. Dissonance and discord smash heads with incendiary death-thrash and proggy complexity, leaving a trail of immaculate destruction that gets more impressive and fearsome with every listen. In fact, only the short, steely assault of "Cronenberged" comes close to challenging it, albeit for entirely different reasons. Released as a single a few months ago, with a suitably eye-popping video, it is a claustrophobic, body horror blowout, with JOB FOR A COWBOY's Jonny Davy delivering this year's most avowedly deranged vocal cameo. All sober analysis put to one aside, it is a song hell-bent on provoking chaos. REVOCATION will not be held responsible for your broken furniture, but it's fairly obvious that inciting violence is a major part of their mission. "Cronenberged" covers a lot of ground over its tightly wound, three-and-a-half minutes, but its creators' focus is absolute.

Rounded out by the pitch-black, mutant churn of "Buried Epoch", REVOCATION have turned their ninth album into another benchmark for contemporary brutality. Few bands are this heavy and this exciting to listen to. "New Gods, New Masters" offers an embarrassment of flesh-flaying riches, executed with militant zeal and a veritable shit-ton of imagination.