Revenge returns 5 years after Strike.Smother.Dehumanize; the Canadian project led by James Read surely takes its time. I guess it takes years to come up with another set of three brutal word associations. Revenge got picked up by Osmose Productions just two years after the first EP, has also worked with Nuclear War Now! Productions and is currently under Season Of Mist, so there are at least three other people who love this band besides me and the crazy man I see in my bathroom whenever I’m practicing my necro “picking invisible orange while screaming” poses in the mirror. Cuz this is some raw kvlt shit. The whole “barbed wire-worshipping, bullet belt-wearing, gas mask-wearing, sun glasses-wearing (at the same time, don’t ask me how)” war metal thing and yadda yadda.
It is a challenge to explain why I find this appealing. The insane "black metal meets death metal meets grindcore" war metal aesthetic has always worked for me. It pulls me in and I get closer to a time where things were simple (either “fucking necro” or “fucking poser”) and far from the current timeline where I worry about malicious dictators or why my cats puked on the carpet (Hi Lipton and Earl Grey! <3). I have never seen Revenge live, but judging by YouTube videos I just know they will untap that primal sense of anger that is more brutal than seeing assault victims with the knife still in them (I work in a hospital, so take my word for it).
I have enjoyed all Revenge albums so far and I’m happy to say there is NO progression to be found. I could probably mix an album with songs from different Revenge albums and you wouldn't even notice. But still, props to them for sticking to their guns and aesthetics for 25(!) years. Meanwhile, most war metal bands are copying what Revenge have done with their black and white formula (or Blasphemy with their black and white and red formula). This music doesn’t develop much in the way of intriguing concepts such as “subtlety”, “variety” or “musical”, but Revenge packs a much greater punch than most bands in the field. This is thanks to the caveman production work that pulls the muddy-sounding riffs back and put the brutal drums WAY up (especially the cymbals), while the heavily distorted vocals are in the middle. The drumming is exceptionally sick, with nice fillers and tom-(ab)use, but it’s generally blastbeat frenzy all the way. Still, I insist there is some slight variation, with some noisy solos, doomy sections or slight D-beat-inspired passages here and there.
Violation.Strife.Abominate is a vile, primitive experience and the repeated identity Revenge keeps on pushing ironically places them on a very high spot among other extreme metal acts, simply because they have such a recognisable sound. Revenge is predictable as hell, but let me remind you that there is no great thinking involved when it comes to enjoying this. This is a sonic ritual just meant to kill some brain cells after an exhausting social event. I can’t distinguish the songs from one another, and I would be hard-pressed to recall any highlight because my ears are bleeding due to all the barbed wire that got stuck in them. Violation.Strife.Abominate does exactly what it needs to do and I wouldn’t change a thing.
