Revel in Flesh – The Hour of the Avenger

Release Date: 6-12-2019
Label: War Anthem Records

Death metal is always in style and there is always time for it. With all its seemingly infinite permutations, there is death metal for virtually everything life can throw at you. Plus, at the end of the day, nothing beats a solid death metal record, that is a scientific fact.

Today’s case: Revel in Flesh. These death-dealers have been delivering the vicious goods since the year of 2012 when the world didn’t end. Having gotten four full-length albums in, they are back again to grace us with their fifth offering, The Hour of the Avenger.

Revel in Flesh play death metal that leans heavily towards the Swedish school of death dealership. You have your downtuned guitars delivering tremolo picked and groovy riffs. Aided by rumbling bass and dynamic, groovy drums, the music is tied together by low growls spewing forth tales of (what else) pain and death. All this is delivered with on-point production that straddles the line between acceptable raw-muddy sound and polished modernity. The mix is very well-balanced and the mastering is not oppressive at all – other death bands should be taking notes.

Now, these are some of our favourite things to be sure, but The Hour of the Avenger isn’t just another simple (slightly Swe)death metal record. Oh no. First of all, rather than deal in violence and mayhem, Revel in Flesh deal in gloom. The atmosphere crafted here is one of foreboding darkness; vicious and lurking, but never as overt as you might think. The said gloominess is also backed up strongly by the delicious Sky Burial and The Wayfarer. These are both heavily doomy tracks that come bundled with a delightfully well-rounded gothic metal influence. Blending death, doom and gothic, while seemingly a no-brainer, it is no mean feat and Revel in Flesh have pulled it off extremely successfully.

As you may have gathered, The Hour of the Avenger‘s greatest strength is that it always keeps things fresh, varied and interesting. The tight and skillful songwriting helps greatly in this regard, and it’s aided by tracks that break up the more straightforwardish death metal stompers. Next to straight-up death songs like Pervitin Speed Kill or the balls-to-the-wall opener The Hour of the Avenger, you have the death-meets-heavy-metal romp The Nihilistic Nothingness. There is also a less gothically-inclined doom in Skull Sacrifice. Also worth mentioning is the closer, The Nightbreed, which eases you down after roughly forty minutes of non-stop beating.

If you have any doubts by now, I’ll clarify: Revel in Flesh have delivered a tight, varied, fresh as fuck album with The Hour of the Avenger, showing once again that death metal is always a good thing. Very highly recommended.

Line-Up:
Haubersson – guitars, bass, vocals
Hermannsgard – guitars
Gotzberg – bass
Magesson – drums, lead guitars
Henriksson – drums

01. The Hour of the Avenger
02. My Trial
03. Blood Oath
04. The Nihilistic Nothingness
05. Sky Burial
06. Deathblow
07. Pervitin Speed Kill
08. The Wayfarer
09. Skull Sacrifice
10. The Nightbreed
11. Rock Out (Motörhead Cover)

Revel in Flesh Official Site
Revel in Flesh on Facebook
Revel in Flesh on Bandcamp