Originally written by Ramar Pittance
Featuring former members of the defunct Cryptic Warning, Revocation is a promising Boston act that has hurdled out of their former outfit’s shadow by releasing a razor sharp demo of twisted technical death metal that evokes a wide away of influences ranging from Burnt By the Sun to Cynic toAtheist.
“Suffer these Wounds” kicks off this three song demo by divorcing the listener from any notion that Revocation are serving up the same kind of solid, by the numbers thrash as Cryptic Warning. The swirling tremolo riffing of “Suffer These Wounds” is rendered with a moist, rubbery tone and sprinkled with bleating harmonics that call to mind Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution era BBTS. After a smooth instrumental break the song hauls off in a new direction marked by off-tempo thrash riffing inspired by demo-era Cynic and traditional melodic soloing also handed down fromCynic, via modern practitioners Alarum. The squirming BBTS influence is abandoned on the final two tunes, which feature the band focusing solely on their take on modern tech-thrash. The bass playing is phenomenal, which in addition to propping up the jagged, high brow thrashing is given ample opportunity to provide funky fills or serve as a needed melodic counter to some of the more mechanical portions of these songs. “Summon the Spawn”, for example, is a clinic in cyclic, lock step-riffing that is brought to life by a punchy bass performance. “Unattained” brings Summon the Spawn to a close all too soon with a scorching riff-fest that’s highlighted by a crisp and lightening fast solo that doesn’t sacrifice coherence for speed.
Talent abounds on each of these tracks, as it’s clear Revocation are definitely taking the solid foundation laid by Cryptic Warning to a higher level. While not perfect, this is about as good as demos get. There are moments on Summon the Spawn where Revocation get a little too caught up in some sterile sounding riffing, and others where I’d wish they’d more deeply explore the Burnt by the Sun sounding elements of their sound, but overall I think Revocation have the stuff to make a really killer full length.
