There’s a certain irony to how Revenge can possess such a royal lineage yet still produce some of the rawest blackened death metal to be released in recent years; formed in 2000, the blood of Revenge is thick with remnants of great bands past, an intermingling of Canada’s great blackened death hierarchy that includes the likes of Angelcorpse and Conqueror amongst others. Debuting with the utterly savage Triumph.Genocide.Antichrist in 2003, there was no mistaking Revenge’s Blasphemy inspired racket, a style which borrowed the seminal war metal acts brutality but blasted it all the way to eleven. Scum.Collapse.Eradication much like its predecessors shows no variation upon this style but does offer a bit of insight; with just an ever so slight improvement in the production department Revenge’s newest album reveals just why this Canadian act has become one of the most renowned bands of its kind.
Untamed as ever, Revenge’s newfound clarity in no way affects their burgeoning war metal mayhem but does make it a bit more listenable; where previous albums were cloaked in a cloud of excess noise and distortion Scum.Collapse.Eradication offers a smog-free view of the bands truly bestial nature, one that is carried out with in crude simplicity. Vermin’s guitar playing is muddy as ever, a juxtaposition of downtuned riffs that take the shape of black metal in their fastest moments and groove heavy death metal during the slower sections. Though some of the faster moments can blend together each of the slower paced segments on the album are excellent, a summoning of bestial thrashing that have you breaking neck in its indomitable groove.
Aside from annihilating his kit in a hurricane of blast-beats and ridiculous fills, James Read’s horrid squawk also deserves mention; just as raw and primal as the music, his shriek as well as disgustingly low gutturals adds excellently to the albums raw nature. Though not hooks in the traditional sense, his delivery on tracks like the beginning of “Scorned Detractor (Trust No One)” perfectly accents the music, showcasing its deadly flow amongst waves of intelligible growls and grunts.
From chaotic and spur of the moment shred solos to slow, doomy riffing, it’s in their nature to create the rawest music possible that Revenge excel; now well into their career the band is rightfully held as one of the best blackened death metal bands around and an overall classic within the genre. Scum.Collapse.Eradication sheds just enough light on Revenge’s sound to draw in newcomers while simultaneously keeping the same pitch black approach that has earned them such a cult status. In 2012 Revenge continue their reign as frostbitten warrior kings; the long-running conquerors of blasphemous and bestial blackened death metal.
