UMUR
"Great Is Our Sin" is the 6th full-length studio album by US, Massachusetts based thrash metal act Revocation. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in July 2016. It´s the successor to "Deathless" from 2014. There´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as drummer Phil Dubois-Coyne has been replaced by Ash Pearson. Marty Friedman guests on the instrumental "The Exaltation" with a guitar lead.
Stylistically this is pretty much Revocation as we know them. Technically well played death/thrash with strong melodic sensibilities. So there is very little new here if you´re already familiar with the band´s trademark style. Maybe a few more "clean" vocals (they aren´t really clean, but more a semi-raw type of singing) to compliment the predominantly raw and aggressive vocals on the album, but that´s about it. So the band haven´t developed their style much since the last couple of releases, but what you get instead of stylistic development are well written compositions, high level musicianship, and a powerful sounding production. Revocation are one of those acts who can rip you apart when they set their mind to it or make your jaw drop with crazy fast-paced rhythms, riffs, and guitar solos when they feel like doing that. In other words they are an act who can pretty much do what they want to because they got the skills to do it.
The material on the 11 track, 47:53 minutes long album are generally strong, and it doesn´t take many spins before you´re able to remember most tracks. I still think they could work a little more on the hooks though. There are plenty of melodic moments throughout the album and and also some memorable vocal parts, but it´s probably in the latter department that Revocation could improve a bit. As usual Revocation have included an instrumental in "The Exaltation", which showcases their great playing skills, but also their diversity. "Great Is Our Sin" closes with a cover of "Altar of Sacrifice" by Slayer, and it´s obvious that Revocation feel completely at home playing this track, which I think they do a lot of justice.
"Great Is Our Sin" features a powerful, detailed, and professional sounding production, which suits the material well. To my ears the band have had better productions on some of their preceding releases, but this one is of high quality too. So upon conclusion there´s not much to complain about here, other than a lack of development of sound, but Revocation pull it off with their incredible playing skills and powerful delivery, and when I´m done complaining about the lack of hooks, and other minor issues about the compositions, the material is still top notch death/thrash and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.