Revenge - Infiltration.Downfall.Death - review
Revenge - Infiltration.Downfall.Death - review
Band
Revenge Release date
February 25, 2008 Tracklist
01. Death Heritage (Built Upon Sorrow)02. Blood Noose (Hog-Tied Like Swine)
03. Sterilization (Procreation Denied)
04. By Force (The Only Option)
05. Barbed Anti (No Remorse)
06. Survival (The Absolute Truth)
07. Final Doctrine (Push Forward)
08. Cleansing Siege (Take Them Down)
A review by
Deadsoulman May 02, 2008
Revenge are an extreme band, that at least is set. They are extreme because they had the brilliant idea to play brutal black metal with a raw production and very evil vocals. Since this is the concept behind, say, 90% of all the black metal bands that ever roamed the earth, they added a touch of grindcore, with all the blastbeats and fast groovy parts it implies. Not exactly a revolutionizing find, but originality is not the point of Revenge. Let’s face it, the sheer musical value of “Infiltration.Downfall.Death” is close to zero. This is actually more of the exact same thing they did on their previous releases (full-lengths and demos), i.e. chaotic black metal with evil screams, guitars engulfed by the omnipresent bass, random drums and an underground production. There is not an ounce of variation so it is actually quite hard to distinguish between the songs, and the musicianship is sometimes borderline out of tune. That’s for the content.
Now, it happens sometimes that subpar music is totally made up by the atmosphere it manages to create or by the mystery that surrounds the band themselves. And as I mentioned above, Revenge are apparently “love or hate” material, a band which stirs the most extreme emotions among metal fans. Frankly, I fail to see what is so controversial about this band. I mean, until someone steps up and eats a real live baby onstage, pretty much everything has been done already in terms of shocking people. So, yes, the music is very raw and very extreme, but it just does not reach a level or grimness above what truckloads of other, more competent black metal bands have achieved already. Ok, the overall atmosphere is very chaotic and very evil, but it is just not as mind-boggling as some less violent bands (Today Is The Day for instance). I agree, the lyrics are over the top, but a subject stops being controversial when everyone uses it, and once thousands of band state that they hate and want to horribly murder everything and every one, there’s not much room left for extremism.
In other words, and to wrap this all up, Revenge fail at being as extreme as they’d like you to think. For all its supposed intensity, it is not a very challenging listen, nor does it make the listener even slightly uneasy. Actually, the most salient emotion it awoke in me was “uhm, yeah, ok”, and then I got up and grabbed a soda. How people can be so moved by this band in either a positive or negative way is beyond me. Revenge are just another “war metal” band, average at best. This album could be of interest to some people who crave for chaotic, brutal music, but even to them I’d recommend, say, Crystalium or Axis Of Advance (with members of Revenge) over this one.
Written by Deadsoulman | May 02, 2008
Comments
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| Southern Wind
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 Posts: 8004 |
Posts: 8004
Ok, I always find interesting to see people having a different perspective on something I don't like. About your first sentence, extreme brutality does not shock me, somehow. What can shock me is extreme atmospheres, but I didn't really find any on this album, unlike you apparently  .
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 Posts: 4943 |
Posts: 4943
listening to it for the first time, this isn't bad, this isn't bad at all. definitely the most rotten music i've ever heard. not evil though. only sick and twisted. i feel an urge to eat something sweet, haha.
---- Blessed is he that murders Christ in himself and in his fellow men.  Written by TheBigRossowski on 10.02.2009 at 16:01
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 Posts: 7263 |
Posts: 7263
Man, the production is so fucking weird (not bad)...it makes me feel like there's something wrong with my ears for some reason, but that may very well be the case. It's not anything I'd want to buy, and even though it does tend to sound like just noise at first, the songwriting seems to be good enough to keep my attention. The pitchshifter is fucking cool
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| Southern Wind
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Southern Wind
Account deleted Written by Deadsoulman on 02.05.2008 at 23:33 Well, it is not the brutality alone what makes this album so great, it is the punching atmosphere that work at many levels in terms of low and high sounds. The only real criticism I have against this band is the little variation between the albums, which is noticeable even for a war black metal band, but I still think this is the best shit they had released... the best I had heard of the "genre" since what my fellow countrymen Occidens released last year.
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 Posts: 40071 |
Posts: 40071
I agree with Collin's review. I myself have always found Revenge to be extremely yawn inducing. Middle of the road brutal black metal. Trying to be brutal for brutality's sake. No variation therefore a total lack of dynamics and thus inducing the yawns for me.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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 Posts: 13427 |
Posts: 13427
Revenge suddenly seems to be everywhere. It might just be me, but I've seen a lot of distros adding this to their stock, plus a lot of reviews. Suppose I should check out it.
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?  "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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Posts: 3751  |
Posts: 3751
I wonder do you (the reviewer) mean Revenge genre is mix by brutal death with black metal, or just "brutal black metal" as a complete title of genre.
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| Posts: 8004 |
Posts: 8004 Written by User 6041 on 03.05.2008 at 18:53 Just "brutal black metal". There's a few grindcore touches to be found, but no death metal really.
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