Revenger “The New Mythology Vol 1” Album Self-Release on February 17th, 2018
By Kyle Kryst
Sometimes chug induced, other times at a breakneck speed or melodically structured, is the thrash metal band, Revenger, that are refining their sound to stay fresh and ahead of the game. Drummer Julia Geaman explains of the effort, “I think the particular style that we are creating is pretty exciting. It’s straight up thrash that can get catchy sometimes or more death metal other times but over all it’s pretty straight forward, but that’s where I find the freedom in it. We can be unpredictable and come up with two riffs that don’t seem to go together at first but somehow work and then lead back into something more traditional. We play the music we grew up listening to but with our own filter on it. We don’t try to sound like anyone, but our influences definitely come out.”
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Their newest EP titled “The New Mythology Vol. 1” is a 5 track self-released album that, “expands on the band’s aggressive thrash style with tracks that are more technical, visceral and direct than debut album To The Wolves. Formed in 2012, the band introduces some key members that shape the sound and vibe of this EP, which is more calculated and driven than before. Heavy guitar rhythms punctuated by a consistent thrash pulse breaks only when the groove requires and marks REVENGER’s particular style. The lyrics and gritty death vocals also bring out the rage and bitterness of the subject matter which, for this EP, is slightly more conceptual and inspired by comic books and how today’s mythology could become tomorrow’s dogma.”
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Starting off the album with a more thrash metal influenced sound is the opening track titled “Hex”. A mid-tempo drum pattern quickly initiates, that then transitions to a thrash induced drum pattern with a steady guitar riff that also includes intermittently struck rapid notes. Spaced out low pitched shrieks are delivered throughout, with consistent instrumental patterns that have slight changes for the fills. This track transitions between mid-tempo and thrash patterns quite frequently, with a couple of instrumental breaks strewn throughout. A focusing on an elongated shriek then fades out with the instrumental pattern, which brings us to the next track, “Anti-Life”. Vocal shrieks pick up right out of the gate, with a dark and heavy guitar pattern that features a fill on drums. The vocal structure stays spaced out with elongated notes. This pattern then transitions into a drum focused pattern with guitar chugs backing up it up, and a slight melodic guitar instrumental break is then initiated, but transitions back into a blast-beat pattern. Chuggy bass lines intermix with guitars and drums until a longer melodic guitar instrumental break with a focus on guitar starts to form. This then transitions back into fast tempo chugs and spaced out drum beats with quick intermittent fill, until this track quickly fades out.
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Starting off with a chuggy guitar pattern, with a backing bass and thrash metal influenced drums is the following track “We Want Blood”. Spaced out death growls are ever present throughout most of this track, that is when they are not in a sped up juxtaposition with the instruments, so vocal variety and structure gets changed up a bit. A fast attack on drums, with faster fill on snares then start to accompany their guitar and bass chugs. An elongated growl leads out the bridge until the song transitions back into a full on chuggy assault. A quick melodic guitar line then precedes to fade out and finish it off. Following with an opening up of mid-tempo bass chugs with an elongated note on guitar backing it up is “The Man Who Shot God”. The guitar starts to slowly form a riff and move up in focus, in addition of the drummer’s double bass pedal starting a rhythm with a fill on snares. Death growls are quickly performed while staying spaced out for a majority of the track. This then transitions into chuggy bass and guitar riffs with a rolling fill on drums. Short instrumental breaks are intertwined throughout, with short melodic guitar bursts throughout chugs. A much longer instrumental break, with chugs and more effected and elongated guitar riffs takes the lead until some melodic guitar takes over the break. The vocals then pick back up with transitioning back into some thrash-core fast chugs, until they start to
go double time to fade out with an elongated bass chug line.
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To finish off the album, as the most variably structured song in my opinion, is “The Watcher (Uatu)”. Fast guitar riffs, with chuggy bass, and a full assault on drums starts it off, as an elongated line of vocals precedes to enter the mix, with a spaced out and mid-tempo release. A short instrumental break initiates into elongated guitar riffs that are backed by bass chugs and drums, with some transitions between elongated guitar riffs with blastbeat patterns quite a few times. The vocals are professionally spaced out throughout, including many elongated end words of the lyrical lines. A melodic guitar focused instrumental break then briefly takes over, with a couple more transitions between chug induced thrash and melodically structured death metal influenced patterns, up until a short blastbeat break with a line of vocals at the end. The instrumental break takes back over with mechanical sounding guitar riffs backed by chugs and drums to fade out the end of the album, with a focus on guitar.
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I overall feel like this was a brazen and successful effort made by Revenger. The way they can mix different influenced structures into one, with their own flair even, really helps keep their compositions fresh, while extremely intriguing at the same time. “The New Mythology Vol. 1” is a banger of an EP, and I highly suggest you check these guys out.
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