Deathcore wizards Conducting From The Grave have returned with their much anticipated followup to 2009's When Legends Become Dust. And they really bring down the house. Again.
Revenants starts out with a clean instrumental guitar riff, with the dual guitars harmonizing nicely. The calm is more like a brief respite before the true storm arrives, and arrive it does with a thunderous roar. Drums pounding, tremolo picking on the guitars, and a wicked bassline provide the groundwork for the album opener "And Our War Will Dawn". This track really sets the tone for the rest of Revenants. Both "The Tyrant's Throne" and "Unholiest Of Nightmares" follow the same style set in the first one, with crushing drums and guitarwork interlaced with growls and shrieks that would curl the skin of the devil himself. However, "Unholiest Of Nightmares" breaks things up with a little jazzy interlude toward the end of it, just to showcase their talent.
"Her Poisoned Tongues" is one of my favorite songs off the album because of the absolutely brutal breakdown at the end of it. Mikey Powell starts screaming, "Where will you turn when you've burned every bridge you've built and have to answer for every drop of blood you've spilled?" You will get off your feet, and you will throw down. Wherever are, whatever you're doing, you'll stop and you'll have this overwhelming compulsion to start a circle pit.
"Path Of A Traitor" has some more of the hardcore influence to it and has a blistering pace, as does "Nevermore". "We Who Shall Conquer" is yet another example of the mastery John Abernathy and Jeff Morgan have over their guitars. They switch gears with a slower, but no less heavy, song with "Curse In The Twilight". The title track implements some creative work with distortion effects to create a truly eerie, atmospheric death metal song.
Revenants comes to a close with a two part song. "What Monsters We Have Become, Part 1" features incredibly intricate and technical guitars, with an equally as complex bassline courtesy of Steven Lovas and top-notch drums from Greg Donnelly. They also bring some clean vocals in. I know a lot of people hate clean vocals in the metal scene, and I don't know why, especially not if they are used as expertly as they are in this track. They fit the mood of the song perfectly. "Part 2" opens with another jazzy portion that builds to a jazz/metal/awesome finish with the screams of "what monsters we have become!" bringing all the pieces together masterfully.
Overall, Conducting From The Grave survived some potentially fatal lineup changes, only to come out the other end stronger than ever and put forth a spectacular sophomore album in the form of Revenants. It's brutal, it's catchy, and it's absolutely dripping talent - it's one of the best metal albums this year.
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