Photo credit: Alex Morgan
On September 9th, progressive death metal outfit Revocation will release their eighth full-length, Netherheaven, via Metal Blade Records.
Watch the video for the new single “Diabolical Majesty” directed by David Brodsky.
Revocation songwriter/front-
Lyrically, ‘Diabolical Majesty’ was inspired by the Satanic Temple’s ongoing struggle with the religious right and their battle to display the statue of the Baphomet in the face of censorship and legal action. To quote American author Chris Hedges, ‘The merger of the corporatists with the Christian right is the marrying of Godzilla to Frankenstein.’ These words ring even truer now that extremist Christian politicians have begun imposing their authoritarian rule as they seek to completely undo the separation of church and state.”
Brett Bamberger (bass) adds: “Filming for ‘Diabolical Majesty’ hyped me up on every level! You can’t beat ripping a video with the crew WHILE having a session and several Busch Waters. Skating at Liborius reminded me of my first time checking out SPOT & Asbury Park when I was a kid. I don’t think I’ve even seen a vert ramp since those days since I’ve always been a tech dawg! It was really special to be able to combine all my beloved passions in the sesh & hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!”
Four years in the making, the Billboard-charting trio that is Revocation – Dave Davidson (vocals/guitars), Ash Pearson (drums), and Brett Bamberger (bass) – meticulously explore the allegorical and literal aspects of Hell as they dig deeper into the darker, more diabolical side of death metal. In short, where the previous album, The Outer Ones (2018), jettison Revocation into the horrific maw of the cosmos, Netherheaven bores deftly through the nine rings of Hell to directly confront Lucifer and his multitudinous faces. “We’re definitely in more of a death metal mindset than on earlier albums in our catalog,” asserts Davidson. “We’re focusing on how we can write the best death metal-centric album that we possibly can while still pushing our boundaries. The new songs on ‘Netherheaven’ are evil and sinister but also have a progressive element to them to keep things interesting. It’s got our stamp on it, no question.”
Netherheaven was written during downtime after the album cycle for The Outer Ones was complete. The album’s nine tracks were written solely by Davidson, who spent his time between genuflecting at the altars of Luc Lemay (Gorguts), Chuck Schuldiner (Death), Marty Friedman (Megadeth), and celebrated jazz guitarists Wes Montgomery and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Between writing killer riffs and absolutely wild solos, the seven-stringer also practiced (technique), studied (theory), and taught guitar. Revocation truly changed gears when Davidson picked up audio engineering (with Apple’s Logic Pro) to use the pandemic-era lockdowns effectively. It made perfect sense for him to helm the engineer and producer’s chair at his newly-built HeatWave Studios for Netherheaven. Revocation
“We put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into the album,” says Davidson. “We want people to be inspired. It’s brutal. We brought our A-game on ‘Netherheaven’.”
Pre order now at metalblade.com/revocation
