Recent visitors to our shores, America's DevilDriver aren't just renowned for inciting fucking massive circle pits at their shows. Instead, they've also been winning over many hardened Metal fans who understandably wouldn't have touched vocalist Dez Fafara's former band Coal Chamber with a ten foot pole. That's history though, with the band's third album 'The Last Kind Words' having arrived.
After a wildly inconsistent debut, 'The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand' built some nice momentum for Dez and company, and while this album is no great stylistic leap from its predecessor, it does keep the ol' DevilDriver train moving along at a heady pace. Their overall sound and songwriting approach has been fine tuned a fraction, the band having morphed into more of a melodic Death Metal band, with noticeable traces of Thrash, Heavy Metal and spurts of Metalcore (such as on the somewhat predictable, yet pit friendly 'Tirades Of Truth'). 'Bound By The Moon' and 'Horn Of Betrayal' are probably the best examples of the kind of efficient, grooving melodic Death they craft; the harmonic riffs of the latter sound like they were nabbed from any number of Swedeath albums, but fit snugly amidst the tightly regimented chaos.
The songwriting follows the pattern of their last record, but there are some noticeable progressions. Areas where things have picked up is the greater emphasis on hooks (some of which are really rather catchy), Swedish-style guitar melodies and chunky riffage. The guitar interplay, while still nothing overly complex, has also improved, injecting tastefully melodic leads and interesting nuances to the songs, especially closer 'The Axe Shall Fall'. Blast-beats are incorporated sparingly, and John Boecklin's fills on the Thrashy 'These Fighting Words' are a step up from anything else they've done before.
Jason Suecof's punchy production on 'The Last Kind Words' helps matters, as does the inescapable groove of nearly every song. The riffs of opening track 'Not All Who Wander Are Lost' and first single 'Clouds Over California' both pack a ton of impact and groove, with Fafara distinctively roaring and howling like 1999 never happened. 'Monsters Of The Deep' and 'Head Onto Heartache' are also winners in this respect; their sludgy, monstrous grooves are sure to have you head-banging along in agreement.
DevilDriver have continued to cut away the excess fat on this album, with the only real filler track present being 'When Summoned' (although 'Burning Sermon' has a few worrying Nu Metal-like tendencies and generic riffs). The rest doesn't reinvent the Heavy Metal genre or even veer too far from the sound the band laid down on their last album, but this will satisfy the hunger of DevilDriver fans most effectively, who will devour this sucker like there's no tomorrow. It will also probably bring some new folks to the proverbial dining table as well.
- Spiritech
(See reviewer's scoring method)
