TMR: Revocation- New Gods, New Masters

Revocation is back with another zany, brutal album since their last banger “Netherheaven”. The boys have gotten crazier in a fun way and a little less straight forward this time. “New Gods, New Masters” drops this Friday September 26. I personally love the route they’re going pushing more death metal but having some thrash moments. Dave’s love for jazz keeps rearing its head and is a great change in pace, diversifying his playing and leads. The guests are insane (speaking of jazz) with Gilad Hekselman (phenomenal guitarist) Luc Lemay, Jonny Davy and Travis Ryan.

Coming in with 9 blazing new tracks the songs are 3 and half minutes long to 5+ minutes, the last track being a 7+ minute adventure featuring Luc Lemay. While we’ve been used to Dave and company pumping out a dozen tracks most times, quality over quantity holds truth here. This new album is all killer and no filler. The guitar solos are well thought out and played, no shocker considering the source. Rhythm guitarist Harry Lennon is now a member of the band after being their live guitarist for a while now. He’s a solid player and massively underrated. The rhythm performance is awesome between Ash on drums and newcomer bassist Alex Weber. Dave’s voice is as nasty as ever yet controlled.

Titling the album New Gods, New Masters reflects Davidson’s belief about humans’ need to worship various gods. “It seems as if that desire is encoded in our DNA. As science and our understanding of nature and the universe as a whole increases, the religions of the old gods start to become obsolete,” he says. “However, I believe we’ve replaced our old gods with new ones, worshipping technology and creating a cult-like idolatry of innovators. I’ve been very fascinated with the development of Artificial Intelligence, and I’m deeply concerned where this could lead humanity whether it’s the slow march towards a technological dystopia or the all-out annihilation of our species.”

We can’t possibly be shocked by the meaning of the album. Personally what I’ve always dug about the band is they go beyond the stereotype and the concepts have meaning beyond death metal tropes. And his statement is absolutely true, without debate. While being a work of fiction, it can very well be a real scenario.

While the earlier albums rule, I can’t describe how much I’ve loved the last handful of albums. Deathless (2014), Great Is Our Sin (2016), The Outer Ones (2018), Netherheaven (2022) and New Masters, New Gods (2025) are flawless to me. Even with 2020 happening the band was working its ass off and writing new music at a rapid pace. I couldn’t possibly choose a favorite out of those because I’d feel bad leaving out a great album. That’s one of the best modern stretches of quality album releases with no bad albums (2013’s self titled was their only average album by any means it doesn’t suck). What’s never sucked is their production! Everything is clearly audible and not muddy. It doesn’t sound overproduced to me, at least. The bass tone is awesome too. New Gods, New Masters is one of the year’s better albums and not much can possibly touch it at this point.