Nekrogoblikon

Revocation

Emerging in the mid-2000s, Boston, Massachusetts extreme metal trio Revocation are armed with a super-technical thrash/death metal style that prizes virtuosity as much as heaviness and aggression. Originally operating under the moniker Cryptic Warning, the band found favor with the metal underground via a pair of well-received demos and a full-length. After changing over to Revocation in 2006, the group racked up accolades with virtuosic blasts of uncompromising thrash like Chaos of Forms (2011), Deathless (2014), The Outer Ones (2018), and Netherheaven (2022).

Comprised of vocalist/guitarist David Davidson, vocalist/bassist Anthony Buda, and drummer Phil Dubois-Coyne — all of whom showcase incredible dexterity at their chosen instruments, even by heavy metal standards — Revocation began attracting attention from numerous labels with their self-released Summon the Spawn EP (2006) and Empire of the Obscene album (2008). They eventually decided to sign with Relapse Records, and delivered their sophomore full-length, Existence Is Futile, in September 2009, also to very positive reviews. The band continued to impress with subsequent albums Chaos of Forms (2011) and Revocation (2013), and in 2014 they inked a deal with Metal Blade and released Deathless, which reached number one on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. It would be the last outing for drummer Dubois-Coyne, who left the group shortly after Deathless’ release. 2016’s Great Is Our Sin also topped the Heatseekers chart, and introduced new drummer Ash Pearson (3 Inches of Blood).

In 2018, Revocation issued their seventh studio long-player, The Outer Ones, followed by their first North American headlining tour. The LP became the group’s highest charting effort to date, reaching number 46 on the Billboard 200. Guitarist Dan Gargiulo left the fold in 2020, reducing Revocation to a trio. Two years later, the band issued the uncompromising death metal opus Netherheaven, making it to number 15 on the Heatseekers chart. In early 2024, Relapse reissued the group’s acclaimed 2012 EP Teratogenesis. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi

Ov Sulfur

You’d think Ricky Hoover made a deal with the devil. Just over a year since inception, Vegas blackened deathcore collective Ov Sulfur has burned bright as a Norwegian church.

Debut LP ‘The Burden Ov Faith’ is the morning after that blasphemic blaze, the sun shining through ash floating like snow. It’s opulent in its cinematic beauty, yet with an underlying darkness that won’t wash away. It’s an epic call-to-arms, not to raise one’s torch as much as question why they would. Less burn down a church and more take down religion as a whole. It’s about to get goddamn apocalyptic.

The burning church is as much about illuminating Hoover’s longstanding qualms with religion as obliterating it. Yet obliterate the album does, starting with slamming firestorm “Stained In Rot,” teasing Hoover’s impressive singing, contrasting his gnarly gutturals. “Befouler” follows with technical riffing and an unexpectedly catchy chorus, before crumbling into a brutal breakdown ft. Alex Terrible. That Hoover keeps up with that masked madman, Left to Suffer’s Taylor Barber and Bodysnatcher’s Kyle Medina is impressive though not surprising. That he holds his own alongside the operatic Howard Jones (Light The Torch, ex-Killswitch Engage) is. The epic title track closes it with beautiful melodies care of Lindsay Schoolcraft, formerly of Cradle of Filth.

Ov Sulfur’s debut spans the stygian realms of deathcore, black metal and metalcore, creating something as majestic as burgeoningly hook-laden and brutal.

BRAT

Straight out of the Crescent City, BRAT are set to release their forthcoming debut album, Social Grace, via Prosthetic Records on March 15. Since their 2021 inception, the New Orleans deathgrind / hardcore band’s journey to date has been one of blistering ascension both on the road and in-studio with relentless US touring and two head turning EP’s already under their belt. Enter 2024 and BRAT are ready to give extreme music the pink pill.

Between an intense live schedule over the last three years, which saw BRAT share the stage with the likes of Eyehategod, Cro-Mags and contemporaries in grind such as ACxDC and No/Mas, the band recorded Social Grace over the course of a year and a half at HighTower Recording studio (Thou, A Wilhelm Scream, Eyehategod). Recording songs in batches helped BRAT finetune and focus their songcraft in condensed bursts, resulting in a coalescence of death metal, thrash, and powerviolence brutality.

BRAT’s self-described barbiegrind / bimboviolence aesthetic is one of intentional dichotomy to their sound, with a keen focus to allow space and inclusivity for outsiders that shirks the traditional in favor of jubilant authenticity. Feral and ferocious in content and anti-purist in nature, BRAT’s Social Grace is a cataclysmically heavy party that everyone’s invited to.

BRAT is:

Brenner Moate – Guitar

Liz Selfish – Vocals

Dustin Eagan – Drums

Ian Hennessey – Bass