Revenge – Strike.Smother.Dehumanize (2020)

August 23, 2023

I don’t think it would be unfair to call Revenge a one-dimensional band. Their dimension, is, of course, absolute fucking brutality. You come to Revenge knowing what to expect, and if you don’t, then you come unknowingly, you get your wig split, and then you keep coming back for more (unless you are, as Manowar said, a wimp and / or a poser). The uniform cover art across all releases, in the same stark colour scheme and thematic area with minute differences, seems to reinforce this point.

Why then, bother reviewing a Revenge album? If you’ve heard one then you’ve heard them all right? True in some regard, but not completely. Idiots like me and complete gluttons for punishment may notice several smaller details that differentiate Strike… from the other releases. The production is slightly… cleaner. I hesitate because I don’t know if that is the right word. Revenge has always had “good” production – that being, it blows your facking heid off, guvnor. There does seem to be an additional level of clarity here, though, which – trust me – does not detract from the aural carnage. The second detail is the abrupt drops into slow, groove sections. These are used sparingly, but not only do they offer a respite from the blastbeats and therefore serve to accentuate those sections, but my god do they hit just as hard. Some of these groovy slow parts are super intense.

All in all, another banger from Revenge. I would expect nothing less, to be honest. This is a band whose track record is becoming almost impeccable.