Revocation, "New God, New Masters" (2025) Metal Blades Records is an undeniable textbook framework of pure mind shredding, slay-metal mayhem. Hailing out of Boston, Massachusetts, one of the area's most celebrated thrash/technical death metal acts with a staggering following across 25 countries, "New God, New Masters" is Revocation's 10th full length release in what is celebrated as their distinguished 20 year career of side splitting, head smashing, neck thrashing  bringing the metal world to its knees. As a testament to their luminary musical prowess and superlative influence within the realm of all that is technical death metal, "New Gods, New Masters" features an diabolical showcase of Olympic celebrity support including Job for a Cowboy's Jonny Davy, Gorguts' Luc Lemay, and Cattle Decapitation's Travis Ryan. Supporting the trading fours dissonance highlighting the necrophagist, honed, and esoteric spirit so characteristic of Revocation, Jazz guitarist Gilad Hekselman shackles the syncopated avant-garde distortion pedal as a guest on the instrumental All the Seeing.

The album namesake and title track, "New Gods, New Masters" opens with an innovative tapestry of woven guitar artistry and grinding, knife-edge clarity. Vocalist Dave Davidson leads us through a battle of humanity against ourselves as his cavernous growls trap beat and time alongside the polyrhythmic phrasing of the unpredictable, yet possible, bass and percussion pairing. All are locked in as one and just when you think the grove has got you, you're dancing again on shards of glass in a mosh pit of litany in hate. "New Gods, New Masters" is a classic death metal showcase of what's to come. 

Sarcophagi of the Soul flows with the question, "Who can be trusted in this world of make believe?" A song as violent and evil as the technology it condemns. It's a head bobbing marksman for the chuga-chuga chop-chop metal heads in its sights. Guitars in pentatonic scale open the track with pinch harmonics disintegrating into diminished chords. Hyper-precision double kicks and long, driving bass licks follow the dynamic compositions that give the song a touch of complexity with a spoonful of repetition. 

Confines of Infinity takes on artificial intelligence as a form of sentient life that becomes a prisoner of its own making, never to escape, never to know the love of humanity. A powerful message backed by powerful, slow-grinding, bone-crushing rhythms, this song flows in an unusual time signature (for the band) of the classical suffocating death metal style. I'm definitely a sucker for the momentary blast beats and cagey demon vocals that drift into dueling guitar solos near the end. Vindicated only  by the final low-tuned palm muting with the graveling lyrics, "Finally free from these confines of infinity." Squeals

The last track I will review and the last track of the album, Buried Epoch is a would-be single that stands out as a face-melting showcase of "New God, New Masters" and Revocation's style. The track just jams. I picture myself stopped at a stoplight turning it up and slamming the wheel as I throw out my neck while the shopping center family in the car next to me stares in confusion. The first half of the song is a thunderous, clinical practicum of dented noise walls perfect for stop and go traffic. As the song progresses we are eventually gifted the blistering diatonic runs of guitar in harmony followed by micro-metric shifts that bring us, alas, once again to that jamming, pound my dashboard chorus. 

"New God, New Masters" is a testament to the notion that a metal band can get better with each new album and that originality isn't frozen in the arts. The vision is a clean cut story, a prediction of the future (if humanity doesn't behave), and I can only imagine what this cut would be like live (in death).