DevilDriver rises out of Coal Chamber’s ashes

Destiny has its designs and if something doesn’t happen, it is for a reason. Coal Chamber appeared to have all the right ingredients: solid sound, charismatic and image-aware frontman, good shows and female bassist for boys’ interest. But, success was slow in coming, which caused certain rifts within that affected creativity, undermined trust and loyalty among the members. Thus, after the third album ‘Dark Days’, it was no surprise that the four headed toward different compass points.

Now, singer Dez Fafara is back with DevilDriver and it is baaadder, louder, punchier, more intense and more claustrophobic. The self-titled album introduces us to a colossal sound that presents them as the biggest, the heaviest and the meanest muthas, combining the blackest of black metal, the most lethal of death metal, the classiest of classic HM. And, for the best part they succeed with a range of songs entitled ‘Nothing’s Wrong?’, ‘I Could Care Less’, ‘What Does It Take (To Be A Man), ‘Revelation Machine’…

In 2001, during the recording of Chamber’s last disc, Fafara decided to pursue a more metallic direction. Once, having a breakfast in a small Californian town he lives in, a napkin was left containing a guitar player’s number and a message: ‘I hear you are in town. If you want to jam, call me.’ He eventually called Evan that led to assembling other players and working on songs/sound/creed for about a year. Time well spent…

‘DevilDriver’ is an extreme album and it is good, brutality food. It is heavy but also has experimental tendencies, it is stretching to do something that is missing nowadays; it is abrasive, it is grinding and arousing, as well as challenging to the prevailing radio-metal concept. “We wanted to avoid everything going on in The States. Do we have a hit radio song? We don’t pander to what the radio wants. We want to have a hit record for fans of heavy music. If a song is taken out and becomes successful, okay, great. If not, my middle finger is bigger than ever and I’ll stay on tour for another two years,” Fafara explains/threatens in the press release.

Mistress Destiny wanted Dez to be here, doing this and with a renewed fervour! An ace contender for the Halloween soundtrack.

8/10