Kingcrimsonprog Every DevilDriver album brings a little something new to the band’s overall style and they aren’t the sort of band you could ever accuse of making the same album over and over again.

Devil Driver’s fifth studio album `Beast,’ is no exception, although you may be forgiven for fearing so had you read any of the pre-release press which seemed to threaten a very one dimensional and relentless album.

Luckily, while `Beast,’ is definitely hard and aggressive it is by no means a basic pounding assault devoid of variety. For example, moments in ‘Blur,’ wouldn’t be out of place on The Great Southern Trendkill and `Black Soul Choir,’ almost sounds like a radio single for the first couple of minutes and has a different feel to anything the band have done yet for the last few.

Unlike some albums which seem to run out of steam half way through, ‘Beast,’ keeps getting better and better, unleashing its unique characteristics more and more as the album goes on, almost easing you into the changes. The opening few songs are what you’d expect the band to make at this stage and things diverge from the formula more and more towards the albums end.

The guitar solos have a different feel to all of the band’s previous albums, they seem to have moved to a more Judas Priest sound, which helps the album have a unique identity in their catalogue.

The production is very clear which allows the music to stay heavy without becoming uncomfortable. The guitars aren’t a mere wall of sound, you have good definition which is always a bonus.

Standout moments include the aforementioned `Black Soul Choir,’ the opener `Dead To Rights,’ and the much thrashier `Crowns of Creation,’ which has some furious drumming and a big hooky chorus juxtaposing the band at their most brutal and their most catchy in addition to containing the most progressive mid section the band have written to date.

Overall, `Beast,’ is an excellent addition to DevilDriver’s cannon, finding the band doing something a bit different but retaining what defines their sound. The album is strong and will grow on you with repeat listens. Highly Recommended.

The special edition digipak comes with two studio bonus tracks and one live rendition of `Grindf**cked.’ More importantly however is the bonus DVD which features 5 music videos and a 1hr 30min documentary. The documentary covers the band’s history from formation until touring Pray For Villians and features guest appearances from members of Lamb of God, Opeth and God Forbid. I was incredibly pleased with it, it felt like a ‘proper,’ DVD like Walk With Me In Hell or The Dehumanizing Process, as opposed to the slightly shallow bonus DVD that came with Pray For Villains.

Kingcrimsonprog While Devildriver’s first two albums defined the band’s power-groove sound, the band mixed thing up with their 3rd album ‘The Last Kind Words,’ by injecting a large amount of melo-death influenced parts into the formula.

With their fourth album, ‘Pray For Villains,’ the band took things one step further, releasing their most diverse and multifaceted record to date. A mixture of tempos, more clean sections than ever before and the introduction of emotional sounding guitar leads mixed in with the twiddling kind gives ‘Pray For Villains,’ a different feel than all previous Devildriver albums, whilst still retaining the overall style of ‘The Last Kind Words.’

On this album, drummer John Boecklin stepped up his game to a ridiculously high level, to the point where it sounds like they’ve hired a new drummer altogether. John plays at least an entire third of the album in as blistering a fashion as you would expect from a drum solo, with more of the music than ever being drum centric.

In fact, the whole band are on top form in terms of performance and creativity. Combine this with a solid production job and the aforementioned songwriting and you’ve got a really strong album indeed.

Highlights include the sinister ‘Pure Sincerity,’ which chugs along at a Pantera pace, with the exception of ridiculously fast kick drums keeping the overall tempo up until the song finally erupts around the three and a half minute mark into all out high speed aggression.

‘I’ve Been Sober,’ is an exiting and diverse song that shows of Boecklin’s previously mentioned drumming very well in addition to some of the band’s strongest ever lead guitar work and a superb powerful vocal performance from Dez.

Finally there’s ‘Another Night In London,’ which delivers everything you’d want from Devildriver and will doubtlessly feature in their live show for the foreseeable future.

Overall, Pray For Villains is a very strong record, introducing many new elements into the band’s sound without betraying what they set out to be. If you like the band I can’t recommend this album enough, it is the sound of a band maturing and evolving without compromising what they are about.

Kingcrimsonprog Devildriver’s third studio album The Last Kind Words, released in 2007 to a more receptive audience than their debut enjoyed, saw the band mix in large melodeath influences into their usual groove orientated sound.

The album features several of the band’s important works such as ‘Clouds Over California,’ ‘Head On To Heartache (Let Them Rot)’ and ‘Not All Who Wander Are Lost.’ Devildriver even mix some cleaner sounds into the album, for example on the close ‘The Axe Shall Fall,’ which foreshadows the direction the band would take with their next album, Pray For Villains.

The production was slick and professional, the lyrics were improved and the band were confident; finally gaining respect from everyone who eyed them with suspicion previously. The band’s reputation on the live circuit and their continual growth as musicians and songwriters help establish them as reputable and honest metal band. This is the sound of a band earning the public’s respect without compromising themselves.

If any criticism has to be laid at the album’s door, it would most likely be that the songs are a little to samey and repetitive. Devildriver created an excellent formula with this album and wrote a great bunch of songs off the back of it, but a little more variety wouldn’t have gone amiss in all fairness.

Overall though, The Last Kind Words is a good album of well produced, slick and professional metal that mixes groove, a little melodeath and Dez’s distinctive voice to create some interesting and enjoyable material. Devildriver fans should definitely give this album a listen.

Kingcrimsonprog DevilDriver got off to a promising start with their debut self titled album, defining much of their groove orientated style and laying the foundations for the rest of their career.

With their second album, `The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand,’ however they really stepped up in terms of quality and consistency. Everything about this album is of the highest quality, from the production and the lyrics, which are better than usual to the performances and actual songwriting.

Songs like `Driving Down The Darkness,’ and the single `Hold Back The Day,’ are still some of the band’s most popular songs to this day.

Thankfully DevilDriver haven’t spent their whole career writing the same song over and over again, but this album is the place where you can get what you want in the highest concentration; but luckily, without getting tired of it.

There are a few moments of variety, with clean arpeggio sections here and there or the occasional set of cleaner vocals. For the most part however, this album is perhaps the album which most perfectly encapsulates DevilDriver’s actual sound. Other albums have outside influences, be they melo-death or otherwise in addition to the power groove style.

To summarize, if you like DevilDriver this album is a must have and if you aren’t a fan yet, this is a great starting point. It is perhaps the most `DevilDriver,’ DevilDriver album released so far.

Kingcrimsonprog Devildriver’s debut is a seriously underrated album. I can remember at the time reviews were not kind about the band and most magazines only cared about the fact that their singer Dez Farara used to be in the much less heavy band Coal Chamber. Years of hard work and consistently good songwriting has slowly won over larger and larger sections of the metal community until now they are simply a fact of life, a well respected metal institution.

This album isn’t the most indicative of the band’s overall sound as newer albums have saw more melo-death influences find their way into the bands sound after primary songwriter Evan Pitts left the band, however there is still enough similarities in style that if you have heard their newer work you will still find this album enjoyable. The thing that people are now realising is that the band are just good songwriters and this album is full of absolute corkers. Tracks like “Cry for Me Sky (Eulogy of the Scorned)” and “The Mountain” along with live circle pit favourite “Meet the Wretched” are still some of the best songs in the bands increasingly impressive catolougue.

This album is very groove orientated, with parts of the album sharing a surprising amount in common with more respected bands like Lamb of God than people would’ve liked to admit at the time, mixed with some almost black metal style riffs hidden here and there in songs to spice things up.

There are a few out of place, but extremely welcome numbers on the album that are just really short, fast and aggressive songs with primarily extreme metal riffs, such as “Die (And Die Now)” and opener “Nothing’s Wrong?” that keep things very interesting, especially on an album that at the time got accused of one dimensionality.

In terms of production, the album is absolutely solid, almost even better produced than their follow up album ‘The Fury of Our Makers Hand,’and finds an excellent balance between clarity and heaviness.

To summarise, Devildriver’s self titled debut album is a great record that didn’t get the credit it deserved and if you like Devildriver you really owe it to yourself to check it out.