The Outer Ones- Heaviness Beyond This Realm
Andrew Hollis
On Friday 28th of September, technical death metal masters ‘Revocation’ dropped their new Lovecraft-universe themed album ‘The Outer Ones’.
Of Unworldly Origin: I actually reviewed this song already as it was the first single that came out from this record, but I will recap a bit here. After listening to the entire album, it made complete sense to me why the band chose this song to be the first in the album and the first single as it sums up the aura of the whole thing, introduces the lyrical themes (being based on ‘The Dreams in the Witch House’) and hints at the direction Revocation has decided to go in for this album. The thrashy verses, death-metal drumming and magnificent jazzy solos are all things that the fans have come to expect from the band however the grooviness of the pre-solo section was but a glimpse of the riff-writing that the rest of album had in store.
That Which Consumes All Things: After running through this record a few times, I would have to say this song is my personal favourite. I view it as the perfect manifestation of all the heavy parts of this album; the punch-to-the-throat blast beats, the growling guitars and bass in perfect synchronisation with the drums, the shred-tastic solos and of course the insane breakdowns all squeezed into this one song. And although there were many great breakdowns, this song has my favourite (possibly tied with the titled track) with the tense drum build-up after what the listener believed to be the end of song to really surprise them with this monstrous outro. This song was one of the first in this album that made me realize just how much Revocation has begun utilizing seven string guitars, as although they have switched to using them quite a few years back they still played a lot of the songs just using six and only adding parts with the lower string when it was appropriate for certain parts usually towards the end of the song. However, on ‘The Outer Ones’ you can really tell they have mastered and embraced that 7th string and have used it extensively to create the kind of heaviness throughout the whole song that wasn’t always present before.
Blood Atonement: This was the third single to be released and for a good reason as it had a very different flavour to the previous two and was written by Dan (Gargiulo, guitar) and not Dave (Davidson, also guitar) who is the primary songwriter. Whereas the other two tracks are quite aggressive and take a more ‘in your face’ approach, this one, although this having some of those elements, takes a more laid back and melodic route, showcasing the phenomenal composition work that sometimes disappears underneath all the heavy elements of their music. Some of the credit must also go to Dave for this song as the solo is simply exhilarating, starting and ending in an unusual, abrupt fashion but fitting in perfectly as it just revs up out of nowhere and quickly fades into chanted vocal chorus in the same fashion, making the listener question if it was ever there. The track also has quite a unique intro for Revocation as they are not really known as a band that uses weirder pedal or production effects, yet both are featured in the form of a phaser and quick panning of guitars from left in right to create a disorienting intro. This also stands out as it features one of the album’s only clean sections, which ‘The Outer Ones’ does lack a bit, my guess behind the reason of that being the band made a decision to cut down on these sections to not interrupt the flow of the album. This does contribute to making it one of their heaviest albums, no doubt, but I did find myself missing the clean guitar work which was always superb on other records.
Fathomless Catacombs: Now if this song isn’t a classic Revocation composition, I don’t know what is. The soulful jazzy leads, galloping riffs built off unusual and dissonant chords, this is definitely more of a throwback to older Revocations writing style that can be seen in the previous albums like ‘Chaos of Forms’. Although the style might be older it can be clearly heard just how much they have improved as a band since then, not saying they weren’t amazing then either, but having a new drummer, top-notch production and years to hone in on their craft definitely did not hurt.
The Outer Ones: This is the title track and the second single of the album and rightly so, as it does a similar job to ‘Of Unworldly Origin’ but to a greater degree. Right from the get-go when you hear the disorienting lead guitars in the intro, similar to the way ‘Blood Atonement’ started, building up in harmonies to expand on that effect, you know it's going to be a song that's “out-there”, even by Revocations standards. After the weird and sinister atonal intro, the listener is thrown into an odd-time, headbanging riff that sets the groovy, driven nature of the rest of the song. The real highlight here, that I’m sure will keep anyone who has heard it coming back to time and time again, much like in ‘That Which Consumes All Things’ is the final breakdown. This kind of philosophy that Revocation seem to have adopted for some of songs in ‘The Outer Ones’, where much like a book structure the best part does not show up until the end and the rest of the piece is just a build up to it in some ways. The solo in this track was great in its own right, recalling themes from the intro and showcasing the guitarists’ technical ability, but serves even better as the build-up for the outro. After the last note of the solo fades into a drum fill no first-time listener would be ready for the irregular-time, dissonant mammoth of a breakdown that was about to come. Dave described this in an interview as being a mix of ‘Gorguts’ and ‘Meshuggah’ and while personally unable to comprehend what the lovechild of these two very different sounding bands would be like, it resulted in being absolutely beautiful and that description sums up this section perfectly. This being the second record that Ash(drummer) has been a part of and it is clear that he has really found the drumming style that fits the band perfectly, with the interplay between the drums and all the other instruments in this album being nothing short of flawless.
Vanitas: To me, ‘Vanitas’ is somewhat similar to ‘That Which Consumes All Things’ with its heavy utilization of the 7th string, its odd time feel sections and an overall heaviness that really makes this record stand out in Revocation’s discography. The intro riff which repeats throughout the song is the highlight of this track for me as its one of the more extreme examples, on par with ‘The Outer Ones’ outro, demonstrating the abundance of irregular time signature, start-stop and downright filthy riff writing present on this record.
Ex Nihilo: If anyone is still in need of convincing what great musicians everyone in Revocation are, maybe the fact that they have an instrumental track on every single album that they have ever done and the fact that it more than matches the quality and manages to stand out among all the other songs of the album will persuade you. This one is no different, having a Latin title (a common occurrence in the band’s songs) translating to the philosophical term “Out of Nothing” it gives off a vibe of a heavier take on a classical composition that feel like they explore deep subjects in an instrumental form. The first half of the song is a slower standard Revocation instrumental where everyone in the band gets to show off a bit and then the vibe of the song shifts once the mysterious, neo-classically influenced lead theme comes out of nowhere (as the title perfectly described) and shifts the song to a higher gear and altering the mood to a darker, faster one. This song, while being the shortest in the album is a great bit of composition and one I’m sure all the songwriters will be able to appreciate.
Luciferous: The drums really stood out to me right from the beginning of this track more than any other and really gave it a life of its own that it couldn’t have been achieved with a lesser player than Ash. That’s not to take away from the other members which shined plenty towards the end of the track with the pretty unusual, pop sounding and even somewhat danceable section (which gave me great joy trying to imagine hardcore metal dudes vibing to this at a concert).
A Starless Darkness: This song is the last of ‘The Outer Ones’ and it wraps it up as well as a song could. It’s a slower piece for the most part and being the longest track, it does a good job of recapping everything that is great about this record. The first part has a really doomy feel to it that Revocation don’t explore too often however it works great here and lets the listener relax somewhat after the onslaught of all the previous tracks. However midway through the song, in the same fashion as in ‘Ex Nihilo’, a lone lead guitar serves as a connector into a faster section of the song while still maintaining the calmer vibe, not trying to cram in too much before the end of the record and just letting the listener reminisce. It doesn’t feel like too long before we’re brought back to the intro section of the track which soon fades away into a quiet darkness in cosmos out of which this record surely came.
