Band's List Thrash Death Revenant (USA-1) Prophecies of a Dying World

When I discovered this album, I was extremely shocked that this came out in 1991. The band was obviously way ahead of their time both musically and lyrically, especially for death metal at the time. Both are extremely progressive. Revenant's sound is easily recognizable and it is understandable as to why this is such a classic album, and such a rarity as well as a gem mostly stumbled upon by the most die-hard OSDM fans.

The guitars are very high in treble, and of course distortion-ridden typical of death metal, but without the overdriven bass effect on the guitar. The album has many cool arternate timed death metal riffs, with many tempo changes, but somehow manages to leave some cool memorable catchy passages in the songs. Along with traditional double bass drumming again typical of death metal, nothing over the edge complex for the time,like Death's "Spiritual Healing".

The vocals are more high pitched (without being shrieks), and a more rapsy style of extreme vocals. The Chuck Schuldiner influence is very obvious in the vocal techniques without being a rip off. I think the vocals complemented, as well as corresponded with the vocals and the trebly guitar tone of the album.

The lyrics themselves deserve an honorable mention and are my personal favourite part of the album. The themes revolve around apocalypse in a poetic, and insightful way, not very expected for the time being, back in the days of the z-grade horror lyrics of Old School Death Metal. The themes also touch upon molecular science, and ancient prohpecies. The lyrics are something you should experience instead of simply reading my review.

Prophecies of a Dying World is for fans of OSDM, and Progressive Metal. It remains an underground gem to this day, and if you ever stumble upon it, I think any fan of the genres should own it. Just an amazing album overall. What a classic.

This is certainly a real gem of an album, if there ever was one. Revenant are one of those bands who despite releasing an album on a fairly big label, never quite got the break they deserved, and it’s a shame because, despite its flaws, this is really an excellent album.

Revenant play death/thrash metal, but it’s not exactly what you’d think when you hear that. What sets this album apart is not only the significant technical bent with which the band utilizes, but also the lessons learned from some of the other big name death metal bands from around this time – Morbid Angel, in particular is a really big influence on this. The bigger death metal-based approach, alongside the more technical manner in which the band writes their riffs and constructs the songs really makes this record stand out from the pack in retrospect.

The songwriting is excellent on this record – Revenant were one of those bands that could write some pretty damn lengthy and intricate songs that justified their length because of the high quality of the ideas and their transitions. The riff work is really excellent on this record, alternating between bludgeoning technical thrash metal riffs and swirling, creepy tremolo riffing. The riffs are intricate and precise, yet never mish-mashy, with an impressive sense of memorability to them as well. The drumming is similarly excellent, with some really intricate rhythms to complement the riffwork, meshing with the bass fairly well. The lead guitar work tends to be fast shredding on general principle, although a couple tracks, like “Spawn” and “Distant Eyes” also showcases some understated melodies to the solos. The vocals are essentially a harsh, raspy shout that go well with the music rhythmically, belting out some pretty well thought out Lovecraftian lyrics as well.

Songwise, as noted above, many of these songs are pretty long in terms of lengthy, only “The Unearthly” and the final track clocking in at under five minutes, but the band really makes it work here. The song structures are generally verse-chorus, but the band’s more progressive tendencies shine through, often with a much more expansive style of arrangement to the tracks here than otherwise. The title track is a rather tense number, with a rather doomy middle section with a spoken word part before going back into the blistering verses. “Ancestral Shadows” is arguably the best song on here, with some excellent riffs and a weighty, constantly shifting sense of structure and development. “Distant Eyes” builds up from an excellent melodic intro into the explosive fast section right afterwards. The rest of the songs are very, very good in their own right.

The production is pretty good, all things considered – it’s a little thin and the drums sound a bit flat, but it’s nothing really detrimental. The guitar tone is meaty, yet sharp enough to bring out the nuances in the band’s material and the vocals are sufficiently upfront without overpowering the mix. The bass is generally buried on here, however, although it gets a couple breaks to shine here and there.

Despite some minor flaws here and there, Prophecies of a Dying World is an excellent album. Highly recommended to any perspective extreme metal fan; if you come across this, snap it up immediately.