With my finding out about the rather new old school Death Metal apparition from Germany that is called REVEL IN FLESH, it took me back to when I was a teenager learning the old school extreme Metal scene of the early 90s. It was easy, judging from their band's logo and sound pattern that these guys are great fans of the old British monster of BENEDICTION. Within their newly debut album, "Deathvokation", via F.D.A. Rekotz, they made a tribute to the old Brits with the classic "Subconcious Error" out of the album bearing the same title from 1990. I also found a few links to other past European acts such as the old BOLT THROWER, old era of PESTILENCE, ENTOMBED and SINISTER that should have enticed things a little more if you already scrolled down to see the rating. However, aside from the same type of sound signature, a pair of moderately interesting numbers, this album was far from convincing and far from the quality of the old guard of Death Metal.

Well I think I can start with the sound production, as it was one of the peak attributes of the release. Such grubbiness and muddiness, especially channelled by the guitars and skins, is something that not many bands appreciate today. Most of them like it a little plastic and overly compressed rather than breathing, even if in this case these are chunks of blood and raw meat. Though I couldn't root out exactly who manned the production behind this one, but I am sure that the one in charge knew what he was doing when taking over such a venture. So as you can see, I liked the sound and it played out and sounded good for me. Then there is the material in question. Throughout my listening experience I learned to appreciate Death Metal along with its massive brutal demeanour, extreme but fascinating themes and of course its musical outlines. When it comes to the old school version of the genre that was at its peak in the early 90s, my favourite I might add, REVEL IN FLESH didn't play it that good, even not good at all sort of speak. They sounded like a pack of grinding savages, even if they are actually a duo, but within most of the tracks there was nearly nothing to brag about or tell your friends. The first track that made me itch was "Shadowbreeder - Until Hell Freezes Over". This is a straightforward mayhem coming at you with axes raised in for the kill. Though it has the same kind of repetitions that made this album crumble, I liked its direction. Same was with "Black Paled Elegy" that was tiny little better and it actually had a few lead guitar skirmishes, which by the way were nearly extinct throughout the release so very un-old school by the German duo, that along with the rhythms created a fine ambiance.

If you didn't quite follow what bothered me here I will summarize it for you. First there is the utter repetitiveness that made my mind cluttered with negative thoughts. Second there was the uninteresting pattern of the harmonic trills that went on and on without bearing a few gifts of thunderous lead guitars. In conclusion, when I heard the first chugging sound of the vocal plus the sound of the ramming guitars, I expected a lot more. Nonetheless, I comforted myself that this band is rather new and there will be probably more releases, this isn't their final word.