Revocation @ HQ

Revocation x Defeated Sanity x Fuming Mouth x Weeping

9.30.26

Weeping

Charging headfirst into the onslaught of the night, Weeping were a great kickoff to the brutality that was to come. I barely caught their name before they violently thrust the audience into their first song, which started with a knuckle-dragger of a riff before blasting into a hail of thrashing riffs and pinch harmonics. They had a good mix of slamming chugs with bursts of technicality, and the dual vocal power between the singer and the drummer gave the songs that extra oomph throughout. With headbangs abound, Weeping were a fantastic precursor to the rest of the stacked bill. 

Fuming Mouth

Fuming Mouth contrasted Weeping’s headstrong ferocity with a more groove-oriented flair, taking the time to slow the songs down and relish some bouncing, bending riffs. Their playing was just melodic enough to have something to latch onto without compromising the genre’s hallmark viciousness. (They even did the thing where they played the same riff but slower, with the audience giving their best stank face in approval. If you know, you know.)

Fuming Mouth were a great change in dynamic while keeping the energy up for the bands that followed.

Defeated Sanity

Defeated Sanity were everything you could want from a classic death metal band. Almost every song started with four snare hits that heralded the barrage of guttural vocals and slamming riffs that barely went above the fourth fret. (Anything higher than that is really only audible to dogs anyway.)

The drums were a particular highlight, with a tight consistency that sounded like a hail of machine-gun fire. The bass also had a surprisingly crisp, clear tone that made it obvious he was pulling his weight. The band also introduced a bit of metric technicality, changing tempo so fluidly that I barely noticed the change in the cadence of my head nodding. Their final song ended with an interesting implied metric modulation, in which the riff was largely the same but the drums changed the rhythmic feel (in case you didn’t know what implied metric modulation is).

Defeated Sanity were about as classic death metal as you could get, but with some much-needed added technical flair that made them the perfect transition before the masters of technical death metal took the stage.

Revocation

It can be hard to stand out as a death metal band. As a genre, death metal is pretty straightforward: growling vocals, blast beats, and chromatic chugging riffs with bouts of tremolo picking. It’s easy for bands to fall into the trope of all chaos, all the time. But, like life in Jurassic Park, Revocation “uh, finds a way.”

The title of Revocation’s third album, Chaos of Forms, in a way describes their unique brand of tech-death. Yes, it’s chaotic, but it’s crafted with such methodical intentionality that listeners can still make out its melodic shape (or form, if you will). It would be easy for Revocation to shred on a guitar for three whole minutes (they’re really good at it), but they take the time to thread the shreds and chugs with melodic lines that invite the listener to explore the composition with curiosity.

It’s no surprise that lead singer/lead guitarist Dave Davidson graduated cum laude from Berklee College of Music with a focus on polyrhythm and jazz. Dave’s pairing of jazz composition with his insane technicality and speed makes him one of the most singular voices in guitar playing. (The speed of his picking hand alone is enough to make a hummingbird blush.)

The way Dave incorporates unique chord voicings alongside, and sometimes layered over, the thrashy riffs, blast beats and death growls creates a surprisingly coherent flavor of death metal that is delicately brutal. A single out-of-place note could crash the whole thing, but Dave don’t miss.

And neither does the rest of the band, for that matter. Guitarist Harry Lannon, bassist Alex Weber, and drummer Ash Pearson are the perfect complement to Dave, playing with the kind of start-and-stop precision that is so important in tech-death to give the songs space to breathe.

The show itself was a victory lap of the band’s 20-year career (and counting). Dave and co. played songs from every era, spanning from their most recent release, New Gods, New Masters, to their first EP, Summon the Spawn, and (almost) everything in between.

They played the favorites from each album with a nonchalant joy that can only come from a balance of intimately knowing the songs without getting sick of hearing them every night because they’re just that damn good.

I got my cardio in during Scorched Earth Policy as the circle pit whirled in the middle of the venue, and I saw what I’m pretty sure was the first ever clean-jazz mosh pit during Chaos of Forms. The only glaring omission, for me at least, was Invidious off of their self-titled album (bring out the banjo, you cowards!).

A 20-year run for any band is impressive. A 20-year run of consistent quality is even more so. Revocation continues to push the boundaries of what death metal can be. It can be brutal and fun, sure, but it can also be musically intellectual, complex and dynamic. Neither end of the spectrum is mutually exclusive, and Revocation dances between both beautifully.

Here’s to another 20 years of Revo.