Chaos of Forms (Deluxe Version)

Album Review

As well as wowing metalheads everywhere with an impressive sophomore album in 2009's Existence Is Futile, Revocation also inspired many pundits to predict that they had "next big thing" potential written all over them. Indeed, the Boston outfit's uncanny knack for welding wanton fury to blistering technique was nothing short of dazzling, but then, similar prophecies have been made about bands as diverse as Mastodon and Trivium, and look at the backlash unleashed, for reasons both obvious and mysterious, toward the latter. No one should saddle Revocation with a similarly sour curse, however, especially since their third opus, 2011's Chaos of Forms, hardly swan dives off the cliff of commercial intentions as the band attempts to evolve its sound. No, no, instead the overall mission statement here is very much in line with the preceding LP's über creative and hyper technical death/thrash, augmented with discreet melodic increments, bigger grooves...more diversity, basically. On the one hand, this approach opens up more avenues for Revocation to explore, allowing songs like "Dissolution Ritual," "Conjuring the Cataclysm," and title cut to dip their toes into the same atmospheric, avant metal pool where post-death metal bands like Cynic and Atheist once swam laps around the competition. On the other, it paves the way for amusing tricks like the funky guitar break in "Harlot" (courtesy of the endlessly versatile David Davidson) and the horn section (yes, horns) jammed into the flailing metallic melee that is "The Watchers." Meanwhile, elsewhere, "safer" prog metal bets are hedged by any number of reliably brutal, eye-poppingly complex new tracks (including but not limited to "Cretin," "Dethroned," etc.) that find a frantic middle ground between Coroner and Converge, to name but a few obvious influences. Only conspicuous single candidate "Cradle Robber" flirts with disaster via suspiciously organized choruses and linear riffs, but arguably not egregiously enough to deny the album title's reassuring promise of "chaos," nor condemn Revocation to a fate worse than death in the extreme metal community (i.e., selling out). Rather, Chaos of Forms sees Revocation generally moving forward with power and precision, and perhaps a little too much self-awareness, but no fear…no, there's too much risk involved in creating material like this for fear to be a factor, and that's to be commended.