Review by Liam Barlow
I'd like to cast you all back to June 2007, I’m 13 years old and at my very first Download Festival, someone tells me I need to go check out this band in the old tented second stage who ive not heard of.
So I go, and I see why this band was recommended to me... heavy riffs, an insane vocalist, stupidly complex and fast drums. I was already sold before I got caught up in a humungous circle pit which is still the biggest “indoor” pit ive ever seen.
The band of course is DevilDriver.
Ive been up and down the country to see this band, on headline shows, big tour packages and seen them play the biggest of UK festivals, I was even in the Guinness World Record attempt for biggest circle pit at Download 2009, could say im abit of a fan….
So when I was given the opportunity to listen to and review their new (and tenth studio) album, Dealing with Demons Volume 2 early, I jumped at it.
As I dive into the opening of this album, I’m taken back to that early 2000s heavy groove style which they were known for, I Have No Pity is a DevilDriver track which could have made its way onto any previous album and I’m hooked from the outset.
Mantra then kicks me back into the double bass glory that ive come to expect from them, accompanied by the technicality of their guitar work which has graced our presence for three decades, this track also features a full on stomping riff and I’m all about that.
I have to say, that even two tracks in, the production quality on this album is next level.
Theres a darkness which falls over the album, and that is personified as we enter the third track, Nothing Last Forever, this song sent me on a journey, as heavy as it is, Dez also sends us down a path on this one with his vocals preaching about his own personal battles.
The darkness continues as Summoning begins, with a clean guitar intro which could rival that of the start of one of the greatest DevilDriver tracks, End of the Line, but as we progress, we’re given the sense of a newer DevilDriver, a band who have progressed with time, and this seriously pleases me!
Through The Depths is the track I had heard already from this album, the music video was released a couple of months ago and I checked it then, this song really personifies this new DevilDriver ive just spoken about, still with the crunching riffs and blast beats of old, but more of a progressive sounding chorus which catapults them into the new era of heavy metal!
Bloodbath caught me off guard as it started which its sludgy guitar tone, this track is as evil and as brutal as it’s name gives out, something which has very much transfixed me for the remaining songs on this album, and It’s a Hard Truth continues to assault of brutality which this album has given me, theres some moments in this track where I found myself enjoying the guitar tones maybe a little too much, but again with the progressive short chorus which I’m very much enjoying from this album as a whole.
The final two tracks of the album, If Blood Is Life and This Relationship, Broken, are more of the same, and I am not saying that in a bad way in no way shape and form, I have fully enjoyed this album, coming from very much a fan of their early stuff, this was a welcomed treat for me.
The only thing I can say is that I’m now even more gutted the guys are no longer playing Bloodstock this year! They will be back though; they can’t get enough of this country!
8.5/10
Watch Through The Depths here:
Dealing With Demons Vol. II is out on 12th May via Napalm Records.
Dealing With Demons Vol. II Tracklist:
1. I Have no Pity
2. Mantra
3. Nothing Lasts Forever
4. Summoning
5. Through the Depths
6. Bloodbath
7. It's a Hard Truth
8. If Blood is Life
9. This Relationship, Broken
DEVILDRIVER are:
Dez Fafara - Vocals
Mike Spreitzer - Guitar
Jon Miller - Bass
Alex Lee - Guitar
Davier Pérez - Drums
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