Revocation’s Dave Davidson: “I Wanted To Take ‘No Gods, No Masters’ And Twist It On Its Head”

Few bands push Technical Death Metal into as many exciting, twisted shapes as Revocation. Their new album, New Gods, New Masters, is a torturously charged dystopian soundscape in which the surprises are just as vital as the brutality.

Ahead of New Gods, New Masters’ release on 26 September, Revocation’s founder, guitarist and vocalist, Dave Davidson, took a short break from filming playthroughs and catching up with his guitar students to uncover the dystopian horrors fuelling the album, and chat about his love of surprises, a guitar hero’s vocals, and the possibility of him starring in a romcom.  

New Gods, New Masters: unwrapped

From its exploration into Artificial Intelligence and humanity’s unbearable reliance on technology, to a gruesome science experiment gone wrong, New Gods, New Masters is a soundtrack to the dark corners of your mind that can’t help but ponder what horror will take our species out first.

“I wanted to take the ‘no gods, no masters’ quote, that’s very prevalent in punk rock and Metal and a sort of banner statement for a lot of counter-cultural movements, and pervert it and twist it on its head,” Davidson says. “The ‘no gods, no masters’ idea is very empowering. Whereas, I think New Gods, New Masters has a much darker, nihilistic connotation to it.” 

Despite travelling to hell and outer space in their two previous albums – Netherheaven (2022) and The Outer Ones (2018) – the biggest difference between every Revocation record, and what Davidson wants to stand out, is the music. “To me, it all comes down to the music. Every single record is an opportunity for me to say something a little bit different. Still keeping it under the umbrella of the Revocation sound, but trying to ever expand how big that umbrella is. 

“One of my favorite elements of music is the element of surprise.” 

“I want people to be able to listen to a new Revocation record and kind of hold two thoughts in their head at the same time. One is: Wow, that sounds like Revocation. And the other is: Damn, I didn’t expect them to do that. I want to leave people in a state of shock and awe with some of the twists and turns that we put in there and just throw in those musical curveballs that people don’t see coming. One of my favourite elements of music is the element of surprise.” 

The battering curveballs in Revocation’s well-stocked armory do not just come in the form of brutal, complex riffs, however, but also in stomach-dropping bursts of silence. “Those rests in the music, it’s part of the riff,” Davidson explains. “It’s baked into the cake of the sound. In a genre like Death Metal, where it’s pedal to the Metal all the time, having those moments can be really, really jarring.” 

Vocals of a guitar hero

Dave Davidson is one of the most highly acclaimed Metal guitarists of his generation, with critics and fans consistently praising his unique fusion of Metal, rock, and jazz into some of the most abrasive and complex Progressive compositions. But with Davidson’s guitar-hero status comes a spotlight that always shines on his strings and sometimes overlooks his vocals, which hit with gut-wrenching sharpness. 

“I certainly don’t look at them as an afterthought,” Davidson says, “but I think people do tend to focus on the instrumental side of Revocation. I think this record’s vocals are my favourite I’ve ever laid down and I’m particularly proud of them, not only the tone, but the delivery and also the lyrics. Even just the ways I’m moving my mouth to get the sound to come out in a different way. I’m still trying to refine my craft as a guitar player, and it’s the same thing for my vocals.”

The bleak techno-nightmare vision

“As the lyricist for a Death Metal band, I have to really go into that world and kinda live in it. I’ve always been interested in sci-fi, but also technology, history, and keeping up with current events. And I feel like this particular topic envelops all of that stuff at once. So I have to go down my deep, dark rabbit hole in order to unearth stuff to write about.” 

While some of the tracks on New Gods, New Masters take a dark dive into brutal possibilities that do not (yet) pose an imminent threat to humanity, some, like Sarcophagi Of The Soul, cover the very real global addiction to technology – specifically our mobile phones. 

“I think there are components of it, very real components of it, that pose an existential threat,” Davidson says. “How can I take this and internalise it, and hopefully write some lyrics that will be interesting or poetic that help alleviate my own anxieties around the subject.”

“The most depressing [song] would probably be Despiritualized. It is one thing to write about the extermination of humanity at the hands of a robot uprising or an AI superintelligence taking over. But the story kind of ends there, right? That, of course, is a horrifying thought, but with Despiritualized, I wanted to talk about not necessarily the extermination of the human race, but the extermination of our will to live.

“If we automate away our autonomy, we automate ourselves out of any sense of belonging in this world. And do we just let hedonistic squalor take over, or do we go down this super nihilistic path where we’re just aimlessly floating through life in this kind of groundhog day cycle of existence, where every day is exactly the same, but there’s no fulfillment that we get out of anything, and we’re just existing.”

The heartthrob Hollywood hasn’t got its hands on, yet

Davidson went down quite a different dark rabbit hole for Cronenberged, which is about a science experiment gone wrong and an homage to the creator of body horror, David Cronenberg, as well as a shout-out to Rick and Morty for inspiring the song title. It also features the demonic, inhuman guest vocals from Jonny Davy of Job For A Cowboy, who is an old buddy of Davidson’s. 

“We texted back and forth and I was like, yo, I want you to just go full, just let the demon out,” Davidson says. “And he was like, ‘All right.’ He understood the assignment and fucking crushed it. When I heard it, I was literally laughing. I’m like, this sounds fucking inhuman. It just doesn’t sound like this sound came out of a person.”

In addition to Davy’s monstrous vocals for Cronenberged, there is an equally unhinged music video that sees Davidson turn into a slimy, tentacled creature named “Goopy”. “[Metal] is the genre where you can really be as gross as possible and be embraced for it,” Davidson says, and that visceral reactions to music, and all associated art forms, are a sign that you’re doing something very right. 

Davidson grew up watching horror movies, and not only is it still his favourite genre, but it may have been what led him to Metal. “I was just drawn to [horror],” he says. “I think that’s probably why I was drawn to Metal because what drew me to horror movies as a kid was the VHS covers, they just had such cool, crazy artwork.

“Getting to live out my horror fantasies through a Revocation music video was quite fun. When I was a young kid, I wanted to go into acting. Once I started playing the guitar, though, it was all over for me. But it’s something as I get a little bit older that I do think about more. Just doing something fun, whether it’s a horror movie or, really, anything; it would be fun to explore that side of myself. 

“Now I have the Revocation Cronenberged video as my, what’s it called? A sizzle reel or whatever. People can see me in action and my disgusting acting skills on display. But I’ve got more depth than just that, I could be in a romcom.” Davidson admits he doesn’t watch “those sorts of movies”, but for the right price tag, he is sure playing a Hollywood heartthrob could be worthwhile.  

When we move on to discuss Terminator-esque uprisings, Davidson adds: “Fuck yeah, I wanna fight against that and be the John Connor. I can do Action star. Why not? I have to get on a fitness regimen and have my smoothies, then Jason Statham, I’m coming for you man.”

Anonymity versus authenticity in the AI generation

Davidson believes the best weapons an artist can utilise amidst the rise of AI is honesty, authenticity, raw human emotion, and blood, sweat, and tears. But one of the most crucial aspects is live performances and the ability to play live, as humans. “Maybe, as a novelty, like one time people will want to see a robot band play or something like that,” Davidson says, “but I think people want that human connection.

“I could probably right now, without too much Googling, find an app that could spin up a clone of some Metal band without too much trouble. But I don’t think people want to listen to that type of music right now. I think it’s actually quite the opposite. There’s a very high level of vitriol against. I guess the danger is if people start lying about it and uploading stuff and being like, ‘this is my band’, but they’ve never even picked up an instrument. And that’s where you could start to use anonymity in more nefarious ways.

“People have always idolized musicians, and I think certain parts of it have been ramped up: you [now] have more access to people or the illusion of more access to people. But when you take that away, it creates even more of a mystique and an aura around people. Look at bands that have a layer of anonymity to them, like Sleep Token.

“Everyone is in awe of them because they put up that wall to create mystique and that atmosphere of anonymity. I feel in some ways people really crave that. Like we’ve always had that obsession with figures that are larger than life.” 

New Gods, New Masters, is Revocation’s fifth record for Metal Blade and is out on 26 September, with their North American tour kicking off on 16 October then Europe on 16 January 2026.