Review : REVOCATION – “Existence Is Futile”

Revocation – Existence Is Futile
released September 29, 2009 on Relapse

Y’all wanna know the bands Relapse put in their RIYL? Nevermore, Death, Behemoth, Megadeth, Testament, Arch Enemy, Obscura, and Exhorder. So I should expect classy musicianship with ties to both thrash and death metal that invokes Southern & Swedish flair blended into extraterrestrial ghoulash? Chances are, you too will be amazed, as they deliver on all fronts.

Musically, it’s marvelous. Their precision is deadly, and the vocals have clarity thru the rasp, akin to Angela Gossow or Chuck Schuldiner: a major high point. By contrast, the low point is the superfluously laced f-bombs, which should be edited on future releases. They can keep the B-grade horror lyrics (5, 7), as I was interested to hear the delicate operation of incorporating them into challenging death metal. For those that want none of that, the midalbum instrumental indeed takes one “Across Forests and Fjords”, as they explore the scope of their styles. This is perhaps best attempted in 8, as they work a dizzying riff through an off-kilter breakdown before bringing it back to brutal and detouring with gang vocals, only to then relent to a groovy, melodic instrumental outro. Sometimes you even swear it’s Satriani phoning in some guest licks on 3, 6, & the end of 11.

It took almost a decade since their 2000 inception as Cryptic Warning, but the Boston trio’s debut is utterly impressive. Unless they completely blew their wad on this one, we should expect more daunting ditties in the future.

FCC: 2, 3, 9, 10
Try 4, *5*, 6, *8*, 11

01. Enter The Hall
02. Pestilence Reigns
03. Deathonomics
04. Existence Is Futile
05. The Brain Scramblers
06. Across Forests And Fjords
07. ReaniManiac
08. Dismantle The Dictator
09. Anthem Of The Betrayed
10. Leviathan Awaits
11. Tragedy Of Modern Ages

Rating: