Revocation

About

Also known as: Cryptic Warning

Revocation have spent nearly two decades making technical death metal and thrash sound like a gleeful car crash between Metallica and jazz class. The Boston band began life as Cryptic Warning, then renamed themselves in 2006 to wipe the slate clean after a few production regrets. Their second album, Existence Is Futile, got Allmusic calling it one of the best pure metal albums of 2009, and Spin tipped them as one of ten artists to watch in 2010. The engine of it all is Dave Davidson, who sings and plays lead guitar with dissonant riffs and shredding solos shaped by his jazz guitar studies at Berklee. Add galloping double bass drums, bass breaks and vocals that run from death growls to grindcore screams, and you get the Revocation sound. They moved from Relapse to Metal Blade in 2014 and have since released albums like Deathless, Great Is Our Sin, The Outer Ones and Netherheaven, with nine studio albums in total.