Revenant Dead  - Two Evils

As the opening  track on ‘Two Evils’ bursts into life I am thinking, being new to UK’s Revenant Dead, here comes yet another black metal band with some great riffs and ideas as on ‘Atrophy’  but the same almost routine delivery as the rest. I am soon firmly corrected with the following  gem ‘Shallow Grave’ as the band enlarges their approach, sound and the wonderfully mixed vocal style of West. Whereas the first song is firmly in the Cradle of Filth with melody arena the next and remainder of the album sees them fuse their melodic black metal groove with some nu-metal hooks, thrash riffs, and dark gothic leanings. Imagine Dimmu Borgir stripped down then blended with some Dommin/Bauhaus goth especially vocally where throughout the release West  sounds uncannily like Pete Murphy from the latter of the two bands, then splattered occasionally with a liberal dose of Murderdolls and Megadeth, then you are near but still a little off of Revenant Dead’s unique sound.   

They mix it all up neatly within tracks too, the heavy rampaging rhythm attack of Dahmer and Theo, bass and drums respectively, making a perfect base for the aggressive or at other times gentle melodic pieces of beauty from Aydin as on ‘Requiem’ and ‘Revenant’, swinging from each direction meeting to create powerful masterful tracks. It really is hard to pinpoint where the band should be placed musically and that has to be a positive where labelling almost drag bands down before they even get started. Revenant Dead are versatile and their music varied as shown by ‘Goldmine’ which sees them in Sisters Of Mercy territory twisted with a nasty slice of darkness and the punk metal single from the album ‘Death Spawn’ which simply elevates them above most bands releasing music right now.

Their home town Birmingham has a legendary reputation for great metal bands of all persuasions and Revenant Dead will surely be the newest name to become part of the future metal folklore. It is obvious they have soaked up their cities’ and the world of metal’s heritage too before turning it into flavours to spice up their own taste of rock with tracks like the closer ‘Desolution’ providing irresistible Anthrax like thrash energy and the Metallica intro and riff for ‘Army Of One’. Actually for me the latter track is the weakest on the album where they do not quite have their distinctive fingerprint on it for once, and though a worthy piece of song writing it pales compared to the other tracks.

Revenant Dead with this their second album have created 11 songs of  originality, power and great surprises which are always welcome in what appears a stale metal genre right now. Do check it out and you will enjoy.

‘Two Evils’ is available now and to find out more info on that and the band visit www.revenantdead.com

Pete RingMaster 10/03/2011