CD Title: His Blood, Our Victory
Year: 2008
Website: reverendkill.com
MySpace: myspace.com/reverendkill
Label: MercyKill Records
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks... and wherever else I can post it!
Rating: 9.9 / 10
More Links: Reverend Kill thread on the Loucifer Speaks forum.
I've listened to this album a crazy amount of times since it first arrived here at Loucifer Towers. There's just something about it that gives me the undeniable urge to listen to it time and time again. Perhaps it's the fact that it's Death Metal of an incredibly high standard? Perhaps it's the guitar solos? Maybe it's the 'live' feeling that the tracks have? Or maybe it's the Country and Western intro to "Child of Frost"? Whatever the reason, I'm hooked.
The album opens with "Child of Frost" - the track that kicks off with that Western intro that I mentioned previously. For some reason, that piece of music really sets the scene and is able to work hand in hand with the Metal onslaught that follows. I understand that the intro may be because of the band's name and the folklore that surrounds it. Basically Reverend Kill is a character from the Old West... but since I'm meant to be reviewing an album here, I'll leave the rest for you to Google. The track itself introduces the band fantastically - it's heavy, the vocals are brilliant and guitar sound is marvellous. The vocals are top notch and kind of remind me of London-based band Matron (although Reverend Kill are from Canada and probably have never heard of Matron).
"Trapped In Amber" picks up the pace a little and is perfect headbanging material. In fact, it's the kind of track that makes you want to raise your fist and yell. I found that the almost 'galloping' riff in "A Wire In My Blood" made the track instantly likeable and it quickly became one of my favourites from the album. For the most part, "Dichotomy" is relatively mid-tempo and really shows off Reverend Kill's ability to use melodies.
"666 Conspiracy" is probably my absolute favourite track from the album. It's got all of the right ingredients - a chorus that you can shout along to and plenty of moments to head bang... It makes me as happy as a pig in it's own excrement. "Velvet Revolution" begins with a relatively calm intro, which provides an excellent contrast between this track and the previous one. However, it isn't long before Reverend Kill take us back to familiar territory and show us what they do best. That's playing Metal like there's an apocalypse just around the corner... in case you hadn't already guessed.
"The Midas Touch" gets another thumbs up from me. I love the lead riff that just seems to continually loop around during the verses... and then the solo tops it all off nicely! "Frantic" is, as you might expect, 3.31 minutes of frantic metal that'll make you hurt your neck and "His Blood, Our Victory" provides a magnificient conclusion to the album.
If you're into Death Metal, you need this album.