2005-07-09
Devildriver's second album delivers a concentrated mass of aggressive thrash/death metal, and is easily one of the best albums to be released this year so far.
Though their first outing was pretty good as well, it wasn’t even close to the sheer power and ingenuity of this one, they certainly learnt a thing or two about writing a good riff since then.
That is what this album is based one, great riffs, plenty of them in it, the great drum work is also a serious plus, but it’s the guitar work this album stands on.
The opening clean passage into in End Of The Line changes dramatically into one of the best riffs this side of Pantera, and the song is one of the strongest cuts on the album, Driving Down The Darkness delivers more of the same, with a bit more diversity and melody on the chorus.
Hold Back The Day is a good choice for a first single, its immediately catchy, great chorus, driving vocals, but all in all, this one gets tired quicker then most of the tracks here.
The sound by Colin Richardson is quite surprising, good as always, yet very much different then the work he did for Machine Head, the over whole shine and crispness he's been known for is exchanged for a much rawer and natural sound, and it works great, making the album stand out in the sea of super-crisp Andy Sneap productions we get so many of lately.
Dez Fafara's vocals are another strong point for the band, quite dynamic and varied, staying in mid-growl most of the time, doing a deeper accented one at times, he has a bit of Soilwork's "Speed" Strid vibe working for him, certainly a surprise for a guy who used to sing for a band I detested such as Coal Chamber.
All in all, I think I stated myself quite clearly, a great album, one of the best for 2005 as of now, buy it.
Alon Miasnikov
