If there is one thing that can be said about Boston's REVOCATION, it's that they have been able to mature as songwriters, while never losing that edge of precision that has set them apart from their peers. I don't think I know anyone who would sayREVOCATION hasn't improved over time even though we all have our favorite releases in their discography. This year's "The Outer Ones" is no exception, becoming much heavier than 2016's "Great Is Our Sin," while being overall more progressive than Revocation has ever been before. It is therefore the pleasure of Metal Temple'swriter Logan Newbanksto interviewDave Davidsonand share with you today!

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The new album obviously shows a lot of lovecraftian influence in the lyrics. What other lyrical concepts have you considered or are considering for music that you may not have used yet?

I've got a lot more lyrical ideas still involving that cosmic horror theme that I might use, it's such an expansive topic so we'll see if that ends up influencing the lyrical direction of the next record. I recently finished up reading the short stories of Robert W. Chambers so his literary works might end up inspiring some lyrics as well.

As a band it seems a lot of your influences shine through your music, while still having your own unique sound. Are there any musical influences you have that might surprise people?

I listen to a lot of jazz when I'm home from tour and on the road. I love checking out originators like Charlie Parker all the way up to modern musicians like Esperanza Spaulding and Lage Lund. I also love classical music as well and find it to be a constant source of inspiration. Listening to composers from outside the metal genre opens up ears to different possibilities and provides me with some refreshing textures that I can immerse myself in. I find those genres to be great musical palette cleansers when I'm on tour getting blasted with about 4 hours of metal non stop every night haha.

What have been your favorite albums of this year?

I'm really digging the new Horrendous and Voivod albums at the moment. I also recently discovered a band called "Moss Upon The Skull" that I'm totally digging. If you're a fan of weird, proggy death metal I highly recommend checking out their latest release "In Vengeful Reverance"

Which band was the one that really hooked you and made you realize you wanted to become a musician?

I went through several musical epiphanies as a kid which I'm sure most musicians experience. Aerosmith came first for me, I became obsessed with them early on and Joe Perry was the reason I picked up the guitar. From there I got into heavier rock bands like Guns N' Roses until I discovered Pantera. Once I saw Dime play it was all over for me, I knew I wanted to dedicate myself to heavy metal after I saw him play.

The Outer Ones has a noticeably heavier and maybe more complex sound than previous albums. What was your thoughts moving in this direction?

We always try to push ourselves with each release and with "The Outer Ones" we wanted to further embrace the darker, more death metal oriented path that we've been going down. The added complexity was a product of the hard work and dedication that we've all poured into our instruments over the years. I think hitting the road with a lot of classic and influential death metal bands added to the heavier approach as well. We toured extensively during the "Great Is Our Sin" album cycle with bands like Suffocation, Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse so that sheer level of brutality was a contributing factor for sure.

What is one area of the world you have wanted to tour but have not had the opportunity to do so?

It would be really cool to hit up some more countries in South America. We just got back from playing Knotfest in Bogota, it was our second show in Colombia and the crowds are always great there so we'd like to expand and hit up countries like Brazil and Chile among others. It would also be rad to play in Alaska one day, very few bands get to travel there so it would be cool to fly the Rev flag way up north.

Ex Nihilo stands out as one of my favorite songs you've ever written on this new album. Is it a conscious effort to fit in instrumental songs on your albums, or do some songs just seem to work better without vocals? I've always been curious about that from a songwriting perspective.

It's a conscience decision, I remember putting a couple instrumentals on our debut album and I liked how it added a bit of a curveball to the track listing and was able to showcase a different side to our songwriting. When you don't have to worry about vocals at all you can do some creative things with song structures. I also use the instrumentals as a vehicle to spotlight different elements of the rhythm section in unique ways.

What are some hobbies you guys have outside of music?

I enjoy cooking a lot, I'm a big foodie so it's fun to try to figure out dishes and add them to my repertoire. I like to cook for other people as well, I'm stoked to share a meal with friends or family and make them happy with my food. Other than that I don't really have any hobbies, I try to dedicate myself as much as possible to music so that I can continue to learn and refine my craft.

What bands have you most enjoyed touring with? Any awesome tour stories with them?

We're pretty easy to get along with and keep things pretty light hearted on the road so we get along with most bands we tour with. Some of our closest homies are probably the Black Dahlia Murder since they've got a similar brand of humor to us. We had a blast touring with them in Europe several years back, one night when we were all in Denmark we went to Mikkeller bar and basically closed the place out. Its funny thinking back about a whole gaggle of metal psychos descending upon one of the best beer bars in the world known for their refined ales and we're just drinking the place dry.

A lot of my friends have been wondering how Artificial Brain's influence has been on Revocation's music as you share Dan Gargiulo?

I'm definitely a fan of Arty B, but when Dan writes I think he tries to keep the Revocation aesthetic at the forefront of his process. Dan and I have a fairly similar taste in music so I think we end up checking out a lot of similar stuff that has had more and more of an effect on both of our writing processes over the years. Of course Dan is going to have his own style at the end of the day so I think his songs on our albums retain his personality but sometimes the lines do get blurred. I've read some reviews and seen some fans commenting where they think my songs are his and his songs are mine haha.

Thank you so much for your time and amazing new album you have dropped this year! I wish you all the best of success moving forward!

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