I thought the band Coal Chamber was awesome and ate up everything they put out. Unfortunately they couldn’t put up with each other and broke apart. The lead singer went on to form the heavier band DevilDriver and they have developed a huge following. I used to have a DevilDriver album, but do not recall which one. I decided it was time to visit these guys again and see how they were rocking with their 2011 release called “Beast.”
The best songs off of “Beast” are: “Hardened,” “Blur,” and “Bring The Fight.” However, one could also argue that most of it sounds the same and you need to be in the right mood for such brutal tunes. Those moods are plentiful to come by though. Here are my note on all of the songs:
“Dead To Rights”: Lead singer Dez is in top form and if you have not gotten your fill of this type of metal in a while, this is a nice slam back into it with speeding guitars and strong vocal screams. However, they are not re-inventing the wheel here by any means and without a lyric sheet good luck trying to figure out whether or not you agree with the lyrics.
“Bring The Fight (To The Floor)”: Made to father violence in the mosh pit and right on target with its ability to do that I am sure. Bang you heads children, and bang the head of your neighbor. Hard stuff and better than the opening track to me as it serves its musical purpose well.
“Hardened”: It keeps getting better! You have to have a special quality of awesomeness to pull off this type of crazy, hard metal music and have me liking it. DevilDriver is pulling it off for me on this song, showing off their range of brutal rock. I love when a heavy song can drive with the guitars, but make sure to drop in the heavy thumping bass and drum, and the vocals are cooler than my grandma screeching. Third song is the charm, I’m ready to go pedal to the metal, hands slapping the wheel, head banging, forget the traffic, I’m going to hell to rock and roll.
“Sh*tlist”: Get ready to march, stomp, and start checking names off of your list. DevilDriver are still switching up the music enough to keep the vibe fresh, but true to the audio theme.
“Talons Out (Teeth Sharpened)”: This anthem for not letting the world get you down isn’t going to get me to revolt anytime soon, but in the mosh pit it’s all the same. My inner fanged owl is not digging this song as much as the ones before it.
“You Make Me Sick”: If there is someone making you sick, this song should be relate-able and can be a useful tool for delivering the title message if need be. Sometimes songs with simple declarations being relied on for the chorus though can become more silly than tough and if you listen to enough DevilDriver or this album from the start as I am, the music is in danger of starting to be a listening grind.
“Coldblooded”: If I had my headphones on in bed I would have fallen asleep at this point in the track list. Nothing new here, more of the same, yet the earlier songs were heavier hit for me.
“Blur”: This mixes the ear candy up a little better and then continues to full out rock with some lyrics that got me to crack a slight grin. “I don’t know you, but I f***ing hate you.” Isn’t that a saying off one of those rude cartoon, bunny rabbit stickers?
“The Blame Game”: Solid opening. Once blame starts getting thrown around I’m not as much into it though.
“Black Soul Choir”: This is a cover song, originally performed by the band 16 Horsepower. It is a huge departure from the banjo fueled and gothic infused, wailing bluegrass vocals of the original. DevilDriver have taken a quirky song and turned it more towards being cool, but I think the lyrical content suffers under DevilDriver’s watch with many listeners not going to decipher the growls and ranting metal ways of Dez. More “meh” than not at the end of the day.
“Crowns Of Creation”: Slightly more melodic than some of the other tracks as the heavy riffs and whiny horse guitars transition into some soft drum taps before jamming back into the heavy riffs again. You have to love the drum going crazy along with the axes in this song, but overall not something I am going to put on repeat.
“Lend Myself To The Night”: Good stuff in the genre, but if you’re not this type of genre dude you’re not going to get too much out of it. I liked this, didn’t love it, but it reminded me of some other heavy songs I so like and inspired me to give them a listen for goodtimes sake.
