Revocation

Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, the extreme metal trio Revocation surfaced in the mid-2000s with a fiercely technical brand of thrash and death metal that places equal weight on instrumental prowess and sheer intensity. The group, which first performed as Cryptic Warning, earned underground metal support through two favorably received demos plus one full-length release. Upon adopting the Revocation name in 2006, the band built further acclaim through technically demanding thrash assaults such as Chaos of Forms (2011), Deathless (2014), The Outer Ones (2018), and Netherheaven (2022).

Vocalist/guitarist David Davidson, vocalist/bassist Anthony Buda, and drummer Phil Dubois-Coyne—each displaying exceptional facility on their respective instruments even within heavy metal norms—drew early label interest via the self-released Summon the Spawn EP (2006) and Empire of the Obscene album (2008). The group ultimately joined Relapse Records and issued its second full-length, Existence Is Futile, in September 2009, again to strong critical response. Additional praise followed with Chaos of Forms (2011) and Revocation (2013); in 2014 the band moved to Metal Blade and released Deathless, which climbed to number one on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. That album marked the final appearance of drummer Dubois-Coyne, who departed soon afterward. Ash Pearson, formerly of 3 Inches of Blood, joined for 2016’s Great Is Our Sin, another Heatseekers chart-topper.

Revocation delivered its seventh studio album, The Outer Ones, in 2018 and supported it with a first North American headline tour; the record became the band’s highest-charting effort at the time, peaking at number 46 on the Billboard 200. Guitarist Dan Gargiulo exited in 2020, leaving Revocation as a trio. Two years later the group unveiled the stark death metal statement Netherheaven, which reached number 15 on the Heatseekers chart. In early 2024 Relapse reissued the band’s well-regarded 2012 EP Teratogenesis.