Review: Revocation – New Gods, New Masters

Style: technical death metal, progressive thrash metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Psycroptic, Soreption, Decrepit Birth, Obscura
Country: United States
Release date: 26 September 2025

I am being 100% serious when I say that the first nine albums¹ of Revocation’s formidable career are either a 7.5/10 or an 8/10 for me, making them probably the single most consistently “really damn great” band in metal. While this essentially guarantees a new release from the Boston group will be a solid addition into the annals of technical death/thrash, it also forces them into a bit of a box: every variation of their sound will, in all likelihood, land the same. Before even hearing a note of New Gods, New Masters, I have a big fat “7.5-8/10” penciled in on my review template. If Revocation want to exceed mere greatness and release a true all-timer, these scene veterans will need to pull several new tricks out of their sleeves.

And just maybe Revocation are primed to innovate on their tenth record with all the fresh blood around: New Gods, New Masters features two new members of the band. Harry Lannon joins band founder David Davidson as a second axeman, while technical bass wizard Alex Weber (Malignancy, ex-Obscura) provides a full-bodied, clacking low end to the record. With excellent instrumental prowess and performances, both of the new guys immediately fit right in—which is to say they also don’t bring anything new to the table. In one last effort to inspire something fresh on New Gods, New Masters, Revocation also enlist outside talent, with star-studded features from Israeli jazz guitarist Gilad Hekselman, Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation), Jonny Davy (Job for a Cowboy), and Luc Lemay (Gorguts).

The four tracks featuring these guests are easily the highlights of New Gods, New Masters, precisely because of those musicians’ new takes on Revocation’s sound. On “Confines of Infinity,” besides Travis Ryan’s own wicked, goblin-y gutturals, Ryan pushes Davidson’s vocals to their most extreme with him showing off a deeper low end than I can recall across the discography. Oh yeah, Revocation also go for a bit of breakdown-y sexiness to welcome Ryan’s vocal part, surely making him feel right at home with the brief Cattle Decapitation influence. Hekselman’s track is an absolutely wicked instrumental with Davidson, Hekselman, and Lannon playing flashy guitar parts in complicated, spiraling rhythms; furthermore, although he’s an unsung member of the band, the track highlights Ash Pearson a bit as he shows off range on the kit, perfectly alternating between thrash metal, tech death, and the jazz fusion influence from Hekselman. “Cronenberged” with Jonny Davy is perhaps the least interesting of the four, but Davy’s monstrous and garbled deathcore vocals add a fun flair to the album that Davidson’s more thrashy barks miss. Finally, the epic closer “Buried Epoch” with dissodeath’s godfather Luc Lemay himself is one of Revocation’s best tracks ever, taking their prog influences to new levels. Eerie but beautiful guitar leads create a nice dissonance with the out-of-control thrash elements, and Lemay’s unique vocals make for a nice chorus of sorts in a structurally ambitious song. 

Of course, I wouldn’t want to imply New Gods, New Masters is only good because of Revocation’s many friends from across the extreme metal world, merely that those four push the band to slightly more ambitious experimentation. The other five tracks are standard Revocation, and that means serious quality—just expected. As with any previous Revocation album, what has me coming back over and over are Dave Davidson’s searing guitar solos, and this is another collection that shows he is among the best shredders in metal history. He’s got a distinct style where he dances in and out of the rhythms with a swinging melodicism. He sounds like he has a blast doing it. When not soloing, Davidson lets out death-thrashy, shouty growls atop an endless stream of headbanging, electric riffs. Revocation are so successful even among outsiders of the technical death metal scene because although they utilize many of the style’s techniques, they do it completely in service of the riff, and nothing but the riff. 

That’s the story of New Gods, New Masters. Revocation write a Revocation album and do it well, no surprise. Regardless of whether you’re looking for energetic thrash metal, wanky technicality, or prog-tinged death metal, these guys are doing it at the highest level, as they’ve done for twenty years now. Having some friends join in the fun helps the album still maintain an identity across Revocation’s formidable discography, and even if it’s not the most creative album ever, it’s new Revocation and that’s something to celebrate. Cheers to a tenth 7.5-8/10, Davidson and crew.

Recommended tracks: Confines of Infinity, The All Seeing, Cronenberged, Buried Epoch
You may also like: Blasteroid, Carnosus, Arsis
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives

Label: Metal Blade Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Dave Davidson – vocals, guitar
Ash Pearson – drums
Harry Lannon – rhythm guitar
Alex Weber – bass
With guests:
Travis Ryan (track 3)
Gilad Hekselman (track 6)
Jonny Davy (track 8)
Luc Lemay (track 9)

1.  This includes the 2012 EP Teratogenesis. ↩︎