Band:	DevilDriver
Album:	Devildriver
Style:	Nu metal, Groove thrash metal
Release date:	October 28, 2003
A review by:	jupitreas

01. Nothing's Wrong?
02. I Could Care Less
03. Die (And Die Now)
04. I Dreamed I Died
05. Cry For Me Sky (Eulogy Of The Scorned)
06. The Mountain
07. Knee Deep
08. What Does It Take (To Be A Man)
09. Swinging The Dead
10. Revelation Machine
11. Meet The Wretched
12. Devil's Son

A nu-metal musician decides to play some much heavier and extreme music. Its a statement concerning nu-metal which comes straight from one of the protagonists of that style. Exciting, huh? Well, it certainly would be if the music wasn't so damn boring...

Alright, I'll have to admit that the album starts off decently enough. There is a 3 song salvo which is bound to make pretty much anyone happy. Indeed, there is nothing wrong with "Nothing Wrong". "I Could Care Less" and "Die (And Die Now)" are also very good songs. The first and third one are very intense, near black-metal fare, whereas the second track is a great example of this New Wave Of American Heavy Metal that I keep on hearing about. The musicians are very proficient. Most notably - the drummer is very fast and the vocalist (that's the nu-metal guy - Dez Fafara - what a name!) has the ability to growl and screech with the best of them. Unfortunately, it all goes downhill form there. While "I Dreamed I Died" and "Cry For Me Sky" are still pretty decent, all the tracks after that are lackluster, tedious drivel which bores me to death. There are a few semi-decent leads here and there but honestly, I cant be bothered to listen through this again to find them. Perhaps the worst track is "Knee Deep" which ought to be called "Ears Deep" instead. If the bands intention is to kill me (they sure use the word 'death' a lot) then I know a number of better ways to achieve this than through boredom...

Another big problem with this release is that it seems to be torn between two poles - that of extremity and that of accessibility. The band sounds very convincing when its being extreme. I played "Die (And Die Now)" to one of my somewhat orthodox extreme metal fan friends and he said it was a cool track. That's a pretty big complement for Mr. Fafara. Unfortunately, only 2-3 tracks are like this. The rest are either bogged down by an attempt to sound post-grunge or by the similarity of Dez's growling to rap. Yup - that's right. This STILL sounds like nu-metal, even with all the blastbeats and screaming.

I wouldn't recommend this release to any metal fans just yet. I think that the band is heading in a good direction and obviously, the statement they are making against watered-down commercial metal is one to be admired. If the band pays attention to feedback from reviewers such as myself, they will develop the extreme elements of their music more on their next album. If they do (and I believe they will), I will look forward to that release.

You can imagine Devildriver to be like a real big mutha monster truck. One that can obviously kick some serious butt at the top of its form. Unfortunately, at the moment its wheels are still covered in mud. Hopefully, after driving around a little bit, the mud will fall off...