Begun by J. Read over 20 years ago as a continuation of his work in Conqueror, Revenge has since delivered some of the most severe and violent music the metal underground has ever produced. Revenge's ongoing effort to refine and hone their attack and the band's unwavering cultivation of a complete aesthetic dedicated to intolerance for the meek have allowed Revenge to ascend through the ranks of the underground. By now, Revenge's stature and integrity cannot be questioned; simply put: they are one of the most extreme Black Metal bands in existence.
Revenge's utter refusal to pander to trends has always been and remains a defining characteristic of the band. With the band's fifth full-length album, "Behold.Total.Rejection," Revenge maintains a lone-wolf approach to the music. This album is a manifesto of rejection - rejection of the groundswell of mediocrity within the scene, rejection of compromise as a means of embracing a wider audience, rejection of the dogma and strictures of religion and the trappings of the social slave.
Since the band's inception, each album has explored and refined the philosophical and ideological core that drives the band's music and imagery. Revenge extols the virtues of the uncompromising self at war with the banality of complacent existence and the common man: debased and docile, living on his knees feeding at the trough of inferiority.
"Behold.Total.Rejection" is arguably the most fervent release in the band's catalog since its earliest material. On their previous two albums, Revenge experimented more with tempo changes and transitions, generally enhancing the band's approach to composition. This album shows the same dedication to songwriting, but these tracks are almost uniformly assaulting beginning with "Scum Defection (Outsider Neutralized)" - a torrential barrage of relentless animosity that sets the chaotic tone for the entire album before it culminates in the manic tumult of the six-minute album closer, "Nihilist Militant (Total rejection)."
Read's stern and over-the-top drumming provides the skeleton upon which hangs the muscle and flesh of the music - taut, lean, and defined. Vermin's guitar and bass playing are, as always, rhythmically razor-like and tight, but frequently interrupted by feral leads that almost destabilize the frenzied structure of the songs. Piercing the instrumental cacophony are Read's signature animalistic vocals. Wretched, searing rasps ripping through the sonic fabric proclaiming the triumph of those not yet enslaved by the tainted doctrine of the inferior.
In recording "Behold.Total.Rejection," Revenge avoided all of the studio trickery that infects so many contemporary recordings. The drums were recorded without triggers, as always, and Read used his 26-year-old drum kit - broken cymbals and all - to obtain the most elemental drum sound. Also, avoiding any reliance upon digital cut and paste techniques, each song on the album is the result of zero editing - just single takes played from beginning to end - creating a sound that is immense and authentic, precise and punishing.
The wanton extremity of "Behold.Total.Rejection" is proof that Revenge continues to push boundaries, to turn its back on all and forge ahead alone. No scene. No brotherhood. No remorse. Total rejection begins now! (Description by J. Campbell)
