Revocation New Gods New Masters Review
Revocation
New Gods New Masters
Metal Blade Records
2025
Still Gods, Still Masters
Everybody's favorite technical death-thrash band is back for their ninth(!) studio album and they aren't fucking around. Revocation brings the heat once again with their blistering mix of brutality, virtuosity, masterful harmonic sensibility, and groove, groove, groove. Lovecraftian and otherwise sci-fi/horror lyrical themes abound alongside some of the tastiest guitar soloing and lead work you're bound to come across.
New Gods New Masters brings back some of the vibe of albums two and three while still bringing the heavier and increasingly death metal leaning tone of their more recent work. The combo really works, giving the compositions room to breathe and allows you to bask in their gnarly glory. These dudes have never been the kind to shy away from dipping to their bag of tricks via cool arrangements, dissonance in all the right spots, and relentless bulldozing heaviness, but the tool they sharpened this go 'round was groove and boy howdy does it pay off.
Did I mention groove? But for real, Dave Davidson and company are an absolute force, as always, but this time they brought friends. A powerhouse guest lineup graces the album including vocals from Cattle Decapitation's Travis Ryan on the lurching grind of Confines of Infinity, Job For A Cowboy's Jonny Davy on the lead single Cronenberged, the mighty Luc Lemay of Gorguts on album closer Buried Epoch, and soloing from jazz guitarist Gilad Hekselman on the instrumental The All Seeing. And what's best is that none of it comes across as forced or stilted. It all settles naturally into the... well, you know.
If you like it heavy and you've never checked these dudes out you're doing yourself a real disservice. Now's the time to correct that. Granted, nothing is for absolutely everybody, but I haven't heard a record all year I'd recommend as universally to those that partake of the death metal or the super heavy side of thrash and the like. Those that dig primarily on musicianship and virtuosity and can tolerate being closer to the deep end of heavy will definitely find something here to grab onto, real guitar hero stuff. Above all this album makes my head bang and really, what else can you ask for?
~Confoundry