Vader

Revelations (Metal Blade)
by Tim Den

Though not a bad album by any means, the boringly-titled Revelations sees the almighty Vader take a few steps back once again (similar to the way Black to the Blind did after De Profundis). The brutality and machine gun pummeling are still around, but everything sounds less convincing and cohesive. Add to that a sound quality way below Litany, and you’ve got quite a disappointing follow-up. “When Darkness Calls” blares through plenty of tasty riffs, but – like the rest of the album – you can’t help but feel like they’re all interchangeable.

Vader have gotten into the habit of throwing one riff after another, regardless of fluidity, into a stream of blasts connected (or disconnected?) by uncomfortable (and unnecessary) pauses. Kinda like a metal salad bar where you just dump one thing on top of another without worrying about if the dressing’s getting on the jello. Even the old school “mosh” of “The Code” feels out of place in this sea of grind-grind-grind. It’s as if any one of the songs could be broken up and used as appendages for other songs, and no one would notice. What a shame, I expected better from these gods.
(2828 Cochran St. PMB 302 Simi Valley, CA 93065)