Revocation – Great Is Our Sin – CD Review

Revocation have rocketed from relative obscurity to one of the most exciting and prominent bands in the American technical death metal scene. This month brings the release of their highly anticipated sixth album, Great Is Our Sin – their second album to be released by Metal Blade Records, following 2014’s Deathless. While Deathless was a great album, and a brilliant debut for a major label, Great Is Our Sin is an entirely new beast.

Technical death metal as a sub-genre seems to have become increasingly popular over the last decade, and aside from Necrophagist (R.I.P… I think?) Revocation stand as one of the most respected and adored bands in the sub-genre. Easily recognisable for their incorporation of thrash, prog and even a hint of jazz into their tech-death, Revocation have gone from strength to strength with every release.

Great Is Our Sin is an absolute monster. A complete riff-fest, it goes without saying for anyone already familiar with Revocation that this is a must listen for anyone who has even the slightest interest in guitar-focused music. Notably, this is also their first album to feature Ash Pearson [formerly of 3 Inches of Blood] – and for anyone worried about the empty kick peddles left by former drummer, Phil Dubois-Coyne, worry no more. Ash dominates the kit and then some. Also, it features more of Dave Davidson’s clean vocals than we have heard on previous releases, which adds a whole new dimension of melody.

One of the best tracks on the album was the third to be released, Crumbling Imperium. Without a doubt the hookiest, catchiest track on Great Is Our Sin. In spite of the memorability of the riffs, Crumbling Imperium is still brilliantly heavy and features some truly stunning lead guitar work – not least of which is the awesome solo. The chorus here, as well, will be stuck in your head for days. Just accept it, and enjoy it. Only the Spineless Survive is an absolutely brilliant slab of Morbid Angel worship – the most punishingly heavy track on the album. With a chaotic burst of solo work leading onto a section of monster-like groove that closes the track, Only the Spineless Survive is guaranteed to crush some skulls when played live.

My personal favourite track on Great Is Our Sin is Cleaving Giants of Ice. Venturing into the realms of melodic death metal with this song, Revocation deliver a beautifully melancholic and catchy chorus, while the verses showcase some classic Swedish-influenced buzzsaw riff-work. The solo in Cleaving Giants of Ice is obviously brilliant (have you never listened to Revocation before?), but with the melodic feel of the song it takes the licks in the solo to a whole new level. This melo-death influence is definitely something Revocation should explore further in the future. Great Is Our Sin closes with a brilliant cover of Slayer’s Alter of Sacrifice – it sounds just different enough to not be a carbon copy, but not so different to drift into the realm of blasphemy.

While chatting to Dave a few weeks ago, he mentioned that he feels the band have seriously improved and grown as songwriters, and this is more than evident on Great Is Our Sin. Deathless had some truly killer tracks (Madness Opus springing to mind, one of my favourite songs of all time!), many of the songs lacked memorability. With Great Is Our Sin, however, this is most definitely not an issue. Revocation have absolutely retained their technicality and their prog influences, however with this release they do not let these influences overwhelm and dominate, rather they allow them to compliment the already brilliant thrash-tinged death metal. Revocation have made the great evolution from brilliant musicians to brilliant songwriters, and Great Is Our Sin stands as their most enjoyable album to date.

Score: 9 out of 10

Great Is Our Sin Information

Track List:
1. Arbiters of the Apocalypse
2. Theatre of Horror
3. Monolithic Ignorance
4. Crumbling Imperium
5. Communion
6. The Exaltation
7. Profanum Vulgus
8. Copernican Heresy
9. Only the Spineless Survive
10. Cleaving Giants of Ice
11. Alter of Sacrifice (Slayer cover)

Release Date:
22^nd of July 2016

Record Label:
Metal Blade Records

For fans of…
Pestilence, Sylosis, Death