| Written by Alex Stojanovic TRACK LISTING New Gods, New Masters Sacrophagi Of The Soul Confines Of Infinity Dystopian Vermin Despiritualized The All Seeing Data Corpse Cronenberged Buried Epoch REVOCATION IS: Dave Davidson - Lead guitars & vocals Harry Lannon - Rhythm guitars Alex Weber - Bass Ash Pearson - Drums |  |
Release Date: September 26, 2025 / Label: Metal Blade Records
I've always been very vocal about my opinion on how bands are actually "bands". To me, when everybody is contributing to the songwriting, whether it'd be submitting riffs or even full songs is the biggest thing that makes a band a "band". I've always said that if it's normally one guy doing all the songwriting and just about everything, then it becomes more of a solo project, no matter how good the material turns out to be. There's a bunch of bands out there like that, like Megadeth (the Dave Mustaine show), Kreator (the Mille Petrozza show), Type O Negative (the Peter Steele show), Death (the Chuck Schuldiner show), and the focus of this review: Revocation (the Dave Davidson show). I definitely understand the reasonings for why bands like the above work the way they do, but this is purely how I feel about the way bands are truly what they seem to be. However, that doesn't mean I'm not a fan of the bands and the material of course. Anyway, I digress, but I just wanted to get that off my chest.
Getting back to the main focus here, Revocation came back this year with a new lineup and a new record with New Gods, New Masters. Over the last few releases, Dave Davidson started taking the band into a much more death metal direction compared to some of their first few releases, which had a bit more of a thrash influence along with their tech death sound. I found that their last release Netherheaven was their strongest release with their more death metal sound. Lyrically, Davidson always displays his vast intelligence with some very academic level lyrics while still making them sound brutal. Very much akin to what Carcass does when it comes to lyric writing. Just look at the titles like "Cronenberged", "Dystopian Vermin", "Despiritualized" and "Buried Epoch".
Kicking off with the one-two punch of the title track and "Sarcophagi Of The Soul", we get the technicality we've come to expect from Revocation that's also progressive with unorthodox structures, while "Confines Of Infinity" brings a slow sludge-y groove and a blasting chorus, as well as one of the few tracks that features a guest vocalist, with Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation lending his gutterals to this track. Other guests that make appearances include Gilad Hekselman, a pure jazz guitarist who lends his talents to the instrumental "The All Seeing". Given that Dave Davidson is a trained jazz guitarist as well, it makes sense that he brought a jazz musician to guest on the album. This track is also one of the standouts. There's also Jonny Davy of Job For A Cowboy lending his voice to "Cronenberged" and Luc Lemay of Gorguts guesting on the closing track "Buried Epoch".
The unfortunate downside is that this album doesn't hit the mark in terms of memorable songs. Revocation have always been known as a technical band, which makes the songs feel more like riff salads than anything. There certainly are riffs that hit the sweet spot in terms of brutality and technicality, but a whole album's worth of it bleeds off the magic. The absence of Davidson's pretty awesome clean vocals also deducts some points. When there's a lack of memorability and you just want to focus on your musician masturbation thing, it's a bit tougher for the listener to get into. I'd love to hear what Dave Davidson could compose outside of the confines of technicality. I'm sure he has the ability to do something like that and it would just rule. That being said, New Gods, New Masters is a world-class technical showcase that many bands would give their left nut for the ability to compose, but with some tweaking on the songwriting aspect, it would've been a bulls-eye on the target.
Getting back to the main focus here, Revocation came back this year with a new lineup and a new record with New Gods, New Masters. Over the last few releases, Dave Davidson started taking the band into a much more death metal direction compared to some of their first few releases, which had a bit more of a thrash influence along with their tech death sound. I found that their last release Netherheaven was their strongest release with their more death metal sound. Lyrically, Davidson always displays his vast intelligence with some very academic level lyrics while still making them sound brutal. Very much akin to what Carcass does when it comes to lyric writing. Just look at the titles like "Cronenberged", "Dystopian Vermin", "Despiritualized" and "Buried Epoch".
Kicking off with the one-two punch of the title track and "Sarcophagi Of The Soul", we get the technicality we've come to expect from Revocation that's also progressive with unorthodox structures, while "Confines Of Infinity" brings a slow sludge-y groove and a blasting chorus, as well as one of the few tracks that features a guest vocalist, with Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation lending his gutterals to this track. Other guests that make appearances include Gilad Hekselman, a pure jazz guitarist who lends his talents to the instrumental "The All Seeing". Given that Dave Davidson is a trained jazz guitarist as well, it makes sense that he brought a jazz musician to guest on the album. This track is also one of the standouts. There's also Jonny Davy of Job For A Cowboy lending his voice to "Cronenberged" and Luc Lemay of Gorguts guesting on the closing track "Buried Epoch".
The unfortunate downside is that this album doesn't hit the mark in terms of memorable songs. Revocation have always been known as a technical band, which makes the songs feel more like riff salads than anything. There certainly are riffs that hit the sweet spot in terms of brutality and technicality, but a whole album's worth of it bleeds off the magic. The absence of Davidson's pretty awesome clean vocals also deducts some points. When there's a lack of memorability and you just want to focus on your musician masturbation thing, it's a bit tougher for the listener to get into. I'd love to hear what Dave Davidson could compose outside of the confines of technicality. I'm sure he has the ability to do something like that and it would just rule. That being said, New Gods, New Masters is a world-class technical showcase that many bands would give their left nut for the ability to compose, but with some tweaking on the songwriting aspect, it would've been a bulls-eye on the target.
FINAL RATING
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