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REVENANT DEAD
www.revenantdead.com
Revenant Dead, who are relatively new on the scene, are from Birmingham in the UK, under a 2 hour drive from Metal Discovery HQ. It was, therefore, kind of surreal when their CD arrived for review all the way from a PR company based in West Hollywood, California! Formed back in 2004, and playing shows mainly around the Midlands area since 2005, the Brummie band's debut album, 'Imperial Rape March', was released in September this year. Opening track 'Decay Dance' commences with a basic guitar riff, almost glam rock in style, which, through its simplicity, acts as an effectual contraposition to the wide array of metal influences present on the album from traditional Maiden-esque passages (with 'Fear of the Dark' style melodies three quarters into 'Bloodtide'); goth rock ('Jailhouse'); death ('Bloodtide'); occasional progressive flourishes (notably 'Torment' with its System of a Down inspired compositional diversity); and intermittent thrash riffing throughout. The likes of 'Decay Dance' and 'Jailhouse' will no doubt appeal to fans of bands such as Deathstars and The 69 Eyes, though where 'Imperial Rape March' really shines is the inconsonance within songs such as 'Vertigo' where its blast-beat infused opening bars and cacophonic riffing together with effective death growls lead into a melancholic mid tempo passage with clean vocals and then an up-tempo thrash section with more clean singing that gradually builds into a growled delivery as the blast-beats return. However, while 'Imperial Rape March' is a solid effort for a debut release, the album is patchy in terms of songwriting, execution, and production. This inconsistency is a pity as all that makes 'Imperial Rape March' great is unfortunately abated by sporadically amateurish moments like the slightly off key vocals during 'Tantamount', and occasional sloppy guitar leads where some of the string bends are, at times, ever so slightly flat or sharp. That said, there is still much to recommend checking out the album and 'Imperial Rape March' is a promising debut from a band that clearly have massive potential. Hopefully, over time, they'll iron out some of the inconsistencies that have unfortunately lessened the overall impact of this first release.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
The Orchard
Album
IMPERIAL RAPE MARCH
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Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
41:31
RELEASE DATE:
18th Sept 2007
TRACK LISTING
1) Decay Dance
2) Vertigo
3) Jailhouse
4) Imperial Rape March
5) Perfekt Hate
6) Bloodtide
7) Tantamount
8) Cordially Numb
9) Compulsion
10) Torment
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
UK
"...'Imperial Rape March' is a promising debut from a band that clearly have massive potential..."