Like everybody else who reads this website, I get a tad too excited whenever Guitar World posts a new lesson from Revocation gunslinger Dave Davidson. I’ve written before that Dave is a great teacher – he has a real knack for making often complex theoretical ideas easy to understand. And Revocation’s music is a great starting point for musicians who want to expand their technical horizons.
Unlike some technical bands, who can be chaotic or mathematical to the point of absurdity, Revocation’s music is extremely accessible. It’s catchy, evenly structured, and technically satisfying. Once you pierce the veil of some of the concepts that Dave likes to use, their music becomes even more rewarding – and that’s not something you can say about too many bands in Revo’s general genre field.
I’m really happy that Dave chose to talk about “Labyrinth of Eyes” in this lesson. That song is one of my favorites off their new record Deathless, and it features some of the coolest riffs and vocal harmonies that the band has put out to date. Said Dave of the song,
It’s a hard-driving song played in a 12/8 shuffle-type feel, and like much of the music I write for Revocation, it moves freely through different key centers.
Personally, I love the sound of dissonance, which may be described as any combination of notes, either in a sequence or played together as a chord, that most people would find harsh or unpleasant.
To me, the sound of unusual combinations of notes clashing against each other creates a tense, turgid musical effect, which is just what “Labyrinth of Eyes” called for.
Check out the lesson below:
