Revis Returns with KILLING TIME

After a 22-year-long wait, Revis releases their second album

Back in 2002-3, I lived in Japan for my second year of college. It was a strange year, as I struggled with the language (despite the many countries I’ve lived in, I’ve never had a facility for other languages). One of my favourite places ended up being the local Tower Records. I became friends with one of the staff members, who also happened to be the DJ at our local bar/club. Like me, he was a hard rock and metal fan, and we would cobble together conversations about new and favourite albums.

He also got into the habit of putting aside new albums he thought I might like. Even though his tastes ran heavier than mine, he separated out more grunge-y titles that might appeal to me; such as Stereomud (one of my favourites), Dark New Day, and others.

One of the albums he put aside was Revis’s debut, Places For Breathing. It became one of my favourite albums of that year, and at least two of their songs — “Spin” and “Caught in the Rain” — ended up on my “walk-about” playlist (an ever-growing selection of favourites that I’d listen to while going about my day).

Like many bands of that era, Revis seemed to disappear after their first album. (There might be an article in this. I’ll have to think.) On November 7th, though, the band returned with a new record: KILLING TIME.

While the album doesn’t quite stand up to their debut (perhaps because it doesn’t have 22 years of replays and memory-connections), the lead single is superb, and easily one of my favourite songs of the year. The album is firmly within the same post-grunge genre of their debut, but has some new touches that make it stand-out and distinctive, while still retaining what made Places for Breathing so good; mainly thanks to Justin Holman’s distinctive vocals.

So, I just wanted to share it in CR, in the hopes that others might discover the band. Here’s the video…