The 2015 Arsies: February 9, 2015

February 9, 2015 arse

Look. I really admire and enjoy Ne Obvs for their work on Citadel. It's like they took the best parts of Leprous, Cynic, Opeth, and The Faceless, and blended it together into a delicious stew. But as highly as Ne Obvs wave the prog metal banner, it's Revocation who turn in the truly transformative work in Deathless. Sure, songs like the title track seem to be relatively straightforward affairs. But really listen to the riffs and song construction, and you'll find that the material here is anything but formulaic. Songs without a clear tonic until the chorus, the almost djentish polyrhythm riffs in Madness Opus, a bridge in 5/4 here, a chorus made up of major seventh chords there... and to think, I'd almost forgotten that guitarist David Davidson is a Berklee School of Music alumnus. So, yeah, Ne Obvs have an excellent album on their hands, and deserve to be listened to repeatedly. But Revocation showed me just how far you can subvert the familiar metal tropes and still give you that shredded feeling. Revocation make it into the Quarterfinals, fo sho.
Tomorrow, we start off with Skyharbor and Every Time I Die.

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