Revocation: It’s All In The Riffs
There a few bands on the planet which can contend with the incredible consistency that REVOCATION have possessed throughout their impressive catalogue, blending a pile of genres together to create innovative, technical wizardry within every instalment. Never treading the same ground twice, frontman David Davidson delves into the realms of hell with their newest demonic offspring entitled Netherheaven.
“It’s nine tracks of fucking infernal death metal. I think it’s some of our best material to date, it feels like a very focused record but at the same time we pushed ourselves in different directions and areas of sound. Death metal is such an extreme genre but I think if you view it through a creative lens there are a lot of different approaches you can take. It has like an old school aesthetic but will also feel modern at the same time with a bunch of twists, turns and surprises thrown in.”
Davidson is an avid fan of art, film and literature and he wanted to venture into undiscovered territory this time around. “I had the notion of doing a hell themed record pop into my head. Any time you put out a record, at least for myself anyway, I kind of reflect on the previous record and we had a very cosmic, Lovecraftian inspired album and I wanted to take it in a totally different direction. I didn’t want people to have preconceived expectations. I feel like I really explored the space theme on The Outer Ones and hell is a really broad concept. It brings in a lot of different elements like religious iconography, metaphorical concepts, your own personal idea of hell, the Earth is getting hotter every year so there’s all these different things kind of marinating in my brain.”
REVOCATION have garnered a reputation for their mammoth bouts of touring, traversing around the globe and bringing their signature blend of ferocity to as many ears as possible. Rather than let the worldwide shutdown due to COVID be detrimental to his mental wellbeing, Davidson sought to broaden his already expansive knowledge of the music industry by throwing himself into the world of engineering and production. “As a touring musician my life drastically changed but I guess I just kind of leaned into my work and I ended up learning about a lot about recording, audio and video. I did a lot of different collaborative projects as well like the Metal Injection Slay At Home Series and Two Minutes To Late Night, I just tried to stay busy and creative. I needed to focus on music or I think I would have gone to a dark place. It was a big undertaking for sure. I learned a tonne throughout the process and it was kind of a trial by fire.”
The Outer Ones saw REVOCATION delve deeper into the death metal trenches than ever before, Netherheaven takes that torch and charges right into the depths of damnation. Davidson took his abundance of spare time to scour through the endless wealth of potential in the thriving underground scenes. “I did a deep dive for this one and I took the pandemic as an opportunity to discover new bands. Obviously I revisited old bands that I love as well like the new CANNIBAL CORPSE, which is a great record. I definitely gave that a lot of spins. There is a tonne of awesome bands out there. I listen to a lot of jazz in my free time as well as classical music as I teach quite a lot of jazz. I drew inspiration from a lot of different sources like movies and books for lyrical inspiration. It all starts with a riff and I have a collection stored on my computer. I’ve got a lot better at cataloguing my ideas over the years. I still have that essence of myself as a young teenager in my mom’s basement, just riffing with an amp. I guess some things never change. Something will catch my ear and I’ll cycle through it a bunch of times making little variations, it’s almost like someone working with clay, you’re constantly moulding and finessing it. That is the beauty of being a songwriter. You could give a bunch of riffs to five different composers and you could end up with five totally different songs. I got into metal because the guitar playing grabbed me but it’s the arrangement of those riffs that can really set something apart from just being an idea to becoming a full song.”
The closing track, Re-Crucifed features two titans of the metal world providing guest vocals, George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher and the late, great icon himself, Trevor Strnad. Whilst it is a saddening moment to think you are listening to one of his final contributions to a world that he poured his heart and soul into over the years it is also a celebration of the sheer level of talent and charisma he provides to any song he touches. “Trevor was a close friend of mine. His passing was tragic and it didn’t just affect his friends, bandmates and family. The metal scene as a whole really lost an amazing icon,” says Davidson. “Trevor was a guy who was just so passionate about metal and it was great to see him so enthused about doing guest vocals. What he delivered was incredible. We’ve toured with CANNIBAL CORPSE multiple times too and we’re tight with George, he’s just a hilarious dude and great to hang out with. It was an honour to have both of their performances on the record and it was a real highlight for me. My whole idea of having two guest vocalists was inspired by Dante’s Inferno. I wanted it to feel like the journey through the different circles of hell and the interactions with different demons and apparitions. Trevor‘s theatrical style added a great narrative and Corpsegrinder is just a powerhouse. It’s not often you get two icons on one track.”
Netherheaven is out now via Metal Blade Records.
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