Review: Revocation - Chaos of Forms | |||||||
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Chaos of Forms | |||||||
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Label: Relapse Records Year released: 2011 Duration: 46:58 Tracks: 12 Genre: Death/Thrash Rating: Review online: September 10, 2011 Reviewed by: Christopher Foley |
Readers' Rating How do you rate this release? Rated 3.78/5 (75.56%) (9 Votes)
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Review | |||||||
I was very fond of Revocation's sophomore effort Existence is Futile, and I remember saying that the band had the potential to be better. Potential I thought would have been realized on the all-important third album Chaos of Forms. Prior to release I was impatiently awaiting the album with salivating enthusiasm, the artwork was fucking cool, with the logo looking very Ride the Lightning, and the lead-off track "Cradle Robber" happened to cleave my head right down the middle. Sadly, listening to the finished product, I don't think they quite cut it this time around. Not that this is bad by any means, I'd much rather listen to this than a lot of the feces cluttering up the thrash and (technical) death metal circles at the minute. The band is still in top form, and David Davidson still wows with his guitar wizardry. I would have liked the bass to be a little more prominent amongst the guitars and drums, but it is a minor niggle as you can still hear it, it just isn't as exciting as on the last album. I think what lets Chaos of Forms down is that some of the tracks are really quite skippable, "Dissolution Ritual" almost sounds like it was a lost b-side from Atheist's Elements album, and kills the flow quite a bit early in the album. "Conjuring the Cataclysm" is cool enough but really doesn't kick off like it should. I can see what they were going for in those two tracks, but they should have appeared later in the album. Approaching the second half of the album "No Funeral" is a good thrasher, and serves as a good wake-up call, although I still feel as though something is lacking. "Fractal Entity" is a throw-away mess of dissonance and grooving. Thankfully the title track raises the ass-kick-o-meter with some Ron Jarzombek moments of technicality, and a lot of the energy and fervor seen on their previous album. The album is at its finest in the last five tracks, "The Watchers" has some of the album"s best riffs and the horns and Hammond solo at the end of the track is almost a stroke of genius, more of that next time please. "Beloved Horrifier" should have been placed earlier in the track-listing, and is maybe the finest thrasher of the album. Overall we have pros in increased melodic tendencies, genuinely cool ideas, and every single guitar lead on the album, David really is quite the player. As for the cons, the vocals, as on the last album, are a sore spot, the album is almost equal parts brilliant track to dud track, and finally there are some groove/modern parts that don't sit well – I hope they can ditch them next time around. On the whole Chaos of Forms is worth checking out, as there are some really good tracks. However, as a fan of the band and their previous album I will say I am disappointed due to the amount of skippable (read; crap) tracks. |
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More about Revocation... | |||||||
Review: Existence is Futile (reviewed by Christopher Foley) Review: Netherheaven (reviewed by Michel Renaud) | |||||||
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