GARGOYL
Gargoyl
SEASON OF MIST
Revocation and Ayahuasca members join forces
Dave Davidson continues to puncture the parameters of death metal with his band Revocation, but the maestro guitarist evidently has several musical avenues left to pursue. Gargoyl sees him hook up with Ayahuasca’s guitarist/vocalist Luke Roberts for an unusual and ambitious amalgam of grunge rock and angularity, where the soaring melodies of Alice In Chains seek footing over off-kilter Voivod-like time signatures and side-winding Gorguts-inspired riff roughage. The combination of these seemingly conflicting styles works best on Nightmare Conspiracy, where Davidson’s mutant blues arpeggios (imagine Revocation meets The Jesus Lizard) tumble headlong into a paranoia-inducing, yet equally contagious, chorus. But such standout moments are rare, and the indebtedness of grunge to the blandest formalities of 1970s arena rock too often take hold, with Roberts’ incessant Layne Staley-isms particularly culpable. Time for these guys to ratchet up the weirdness.