Album Review // 2021-01-07
Revocation
Deathless
Released: 2014-10-14
"Revocation" means "to take back something that someone previously had." I wonder if this band felt this has been done to them on personal levels and/or maybe on a more political level. I like this name. It makes sense to me for a band with their kind of presence.
I thoroughly enjoyed the song "The Grip Tightens" - it is on my first playlist. I wanted to see what else they have created, see if it makes me as happy as that song did.
I had nothing really to go on to decide which album, but I was drawn to the cover of this one and the song names.
This band seems very directed on their path. Not too worried about if they are well-known, and open to fans getting whatever they get personally from their music.
Apparently, music is something this band lives even outside of this band. Members are parts of other bands, give guitar lessons, are learning about classical and jazz styles.
Mood
This album feels like there is conviction behind it, sometimes calculated, sometimes energetic, sometimes darker.
Artwork
The artwork has a surreal look to it. It makes me think of a fantasy realm, though it is dark. I like the detail in the teeth, saliva, expression of the doorway. You can see the cemetery stones underneath the fog. The skeleton essence seems like it is meant to be ghosts, spirits, or dead people. Seems almost like this doorway dropped into this location and threw theses essences out. You can even see the detail within the fog showing that there are stone walls or paths.
Vocals
I like this growly/scream vocal that has a higher and lower register. The way he does It seems pretty recognizable as being him. I like all the ways he used his voice. My favourite one is the higher one that is somewhere between a scream and a growl.
Music
There is no doubt that this band has talent. There are some very technical elements. Sometimes I was quite surprised to hear the guitar work sections amidst more harsh sections. In a sense, this band feels like it is mixing several genres. Nothing wrong with not being able to always predict where songs are going. Some of the guitar riffs feel like something from a dark fantasy video game and other times a guitar solo sounds like a more melodic and progressive band. I enjoy the pace of the drums, lots of nice double kick.
A Debt Owed To The Grave
I think this is referring to the idea that something is owed at death, or that you need to prepare for death. I know there have been different groups of people that buried their dead with belongings or even expensive items. I have watched history shows, about ancient Egypt for instance, where there was such a huge amount of stuff and many days of body preparation for every death. Even more if you were an outstanding or well-known person such as a Pharaoh.
I personally want to be as far away as possible from bodies after death. I don't even want to look into a casket at a viewing. I have a certain level of necrophobia (fear of dead bodies). One of the reasons I don't like horror movies! I think this stems from my experience seeing the transformation of my beloved sister's body while fighting sepsis. That image never leaves you, unfortunately! And also being 17 and visiting her in ICU for months, only to have her tracheotomy tube come out quite often, setting off machines alarming. I felt like I was going to lose her on my visit, each and every time.
Apparently, an obolus put in the mouth of deceased people is a thing in mythology. It is done to prepare for the journey at death. And apparently, there truly were many people buried with things in their mouth.
Life extinguished in it's prime
Summoned by the bell's strident chime
A bemoaning family laments
An Obolus the payment for a life that has been spent
Stained sheets, the darkest shade of crimson
Bloated by the onset of decomposition
No one will mourn over his death
An Obol forced inside your mouth before your final breath
Deathless
This may be going with a theme of a group of like minded people or spirits that are not going to die or give up. They have chosen a path that leads them to immortality. Maybe it is speaking to the idea that there is perseverance no matter what. They have almost defeated death itself.
Deathless the fire burns on and on
Ceaseless we ride into the dawn
No turning back we’re too far gone
Deathless the fire burns
It was never a choice
No glory for madmen
The blood of the insane boils in our veins
Through all the trials and tribulations
Still we remain
Labyrinth of Eyes
This song is speaking to our every movement becoming more and more accessible. Many people write their every move on social media, everyone carries around phones that can take footage, technology that can track things that were once private. Some things might make us feel "safer" and some make nothing seem private.
A maze of surveillance with no exit in sight
Surrounded by sentinels, nowhere to hide
Confined in this labyrinth of eyes
Hunted and dehumanized
Madness Opus
This feels like a pull from "the dark side" (couldn't help it, I am a Star Wars fan). Seems like there is a fight against it, but then again, it is a secret that is hidden. Seems to be some sense of giving in to it.
I like that this song recognizes the age-old good versus evil battle.
It beckons to me, a being of immense and terrifying power
A portal to a dimension of chaos lies just beyond my window
Hungrily it feeds, eagerly swallowing souls of thousands
I prepare this first movement to combat the unknown
No one must know my secret
I'll take a life to keep it
I cannot rest until this final demon is defeated
My nightly ritual
A captivated minstrel
This is the madness in which I dwell
Scorched Earth policy
This song is talking about a society with people in power that cannot be trusted to keep us safe. In reality, I think every leader can't be fully trusted!
Weaponized to neutralize
Always on patrol
Under constant surveillance
Their need for control
Automaton gaining sentience
A glitch in the system
Raining down hellfire on innocent civilians
All the failsafes have failed
Welcome to the new regime
The only law of the land
A scorched earth policy
The Blackest Reaches
Feels like this song is talking about not liking the light, and recognizing how dark your own thoughts can be.
The light certainly brings things out in the open. It can emphasis things that we like to hide.
Given the right circumstances we are all capable of terrible things (at least, I think so).
Confined in darkness, where light dares not tread
The sphere lies suspended and undisturbed
I curse that fateful day within that foul old church
The day that this curse was first incurred
What lies inside the blackest reaches of one's own mind?
Primal and divine, an entity unbound by all space and time
The Fix
This seems to be taking the poor leadership theme farther and recognizing that some behind the scenes plans may actually be a subtle way to control people. I certainly don't believe everything we are told in the media. Let's face it, we don't know all the agendas behind the scenes. If humans generally are self-focused and cynical, why wouldn't leadership also be this way?
A staged play years in the making
Arm your scapegoat then flip the switch
Thousands march towards beckoning graves
While profits are harvested hand over fist
A system designed with controlling intent
Cannot be changed from within
The illusion of choice, a coin with one side
The fix is in
United In Helotry
I think speaks to the way we can become a slave to so many things. Anything that you feel compelled to blindly follow may be ruling you.
I certainly don't want to come off the wrong way, but I recently watched a documentary about WW1. It was clear that the young men enlisted had no idea what war even meant. They were propagandized to join, made to feel like they were nothing if they weren't willing to die. It was heartbreaking, though I know war has been necessary at times. All due respect to those that have served.
Starved faculties of imagination
You gorge on banalities then ask for seconds
Rank and file
Marching endlessly
United in helotry
No sight beyond your blinders
Devoted to this beaten path
Apex
Instrumental
Witch Trials
Another horrible part of history! I can't wrap my head around why anyone would think they have the right to judge another person. Why they would think they should be killing people they are not comfortable with. This was such a form of hatred! Such an example of feeling justified to do things that aren't justifiable.
Paranoia
Their leery whispers feed the hysteria
Accusations
A vile covenant in service of Satan
Forced to confess then condemned to die
The vulgar Christians demanding a sacrifice
To a god that never was and never will be
Malleus Maleficarum
That foul and ancient tome
Hammer of the witches
Lost souls forever roam
Sworn To The Black
This may be speaking to the idea that you are so injured, broken, crushed that you have nothing to pull you out of the abyss. Maybe the abyss is comfortable, familiar.
Maybe it is speaking to a part of you that keeps going back to a way of thinking you once wished you could move past, but you just keep dwelling or pursuing the thought. It makes you feel like you have no hope.
I know I am probably taking this too seriously, but please reach out to someone professional if you are find yourself unable to move forward.
Spawn of the ever rolling abyss
Ever espousing unluminous
Charred soul - Burned at rebirth
Quest not save the death of the sun
Repulsed by the light
Heart pumping ice
So cold to this world
Reclude until the summoning
Sworn to the black
Playlist Picks
Some songs on this album get a little too technical for my liking. Am I really complaining about their ability here? An example is Scorched Earth Policy, where I could have done without the guitar solo completely. Just felt lengthy and not what I wanted to hear. But it wasn't the end of the world either.
I will put A Debt Owed To The Grave on my playlist. I really like the drum pace, guitar riffs, and vocal combo. Right for me!
The Fix has a nice guitar riff and energy. I will put that on my playlist as well.
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