DevilDriver - Beast review
| Band: | DevilDriver |
| Album: | Beast |
| Style: | Melodic death metal, Groove thrash metal |
| Release date: | February 22, 2011 |
| A review by: | Troy Killjoy |
01. Dead To Rights
02. Bring The Fight (To The Floor)
03. Hardened
04. Shitlist
05. Talons Out (Teeth Sharpened)
06. You Make Me Sick
07. Coldblooded
08. Blur
09. The Blame Game
10. Black Soul Choir [16 Horsepower cover]
11. Crowns Of Creation
12. Lend Myself To The Night
Special edition bonus tracks:
13. Lost
14. Fortune Favors The Brave
15. Grinfucked [live]
+ You May Know Us From The Stage [Documentary]
Dez Fafara has done just about everything he can with DevilDriver in order to separate his name from Coal Chamber. For those of you who aren't aware, that was his nu metal project that lasted about a decade before meeting its end in 2003, and death metal purists have been riding this guy ever since. Not that this is a death metal band. DevilDriver are a heavily groove-influenced thrash/metalcore-ish outfit. Ya, kinda hard to pigeonhole, but it's easier than trying to come up with some new genre.
Oh, and I know you saw it too. Metalcore. And it's a Roadrunner release. You've gotta be thinking either "oh shit this is gonna rock my world" or "Nickelback labelmates LOL". To be honest, it has a lot of rocking elements for fans of straight-up headbanging. But, typical of most Roadrunner releases, its edges have been sanded down and the suggestions box is covered in cobwebs, making for a very structured, formulaic, generic, boring listen. The songs come and go but don't leave you with anything. It's totally inoffensive.
That being said, the groove factor saves this album from being a total dud. I mean, oftentimes "jump da fuck up" riffs all but destroy a band's sound, but on Beast they're quite literally the only worthwhile aspect of the music. Because of those riffs the listener is able to tap into some sort of aggression, albeit a very limited amount. The mundane drumming doesn't help in any way, Dez screaming and ... growling (if that's the appropriate term) like a ... oh man I'm running out of comparisons. He's getting weaker, let's put it that way. (Bonus points for lyrics enthusiasts.) Quite frankly it's beginning to sound like an old man uploaded some Cannibal Corpse vocal covers on his Youtube account.
It's hard to say what this album is supposed to do. Usually what you look for in a DevilDriver release is fast-paced, aggressive, edgy, alternative thrash metal. Songs like "Clouds Over California" or "Hold Back The Day". Nothing lyrically stunning, nothing pushing boundaries, but something most definitely worth beating your neighbor's door in with a sledgehammer. Beast, however, is the runt of the litter in that respect. This would make for a better soundtrack to The Notebook while I curl up with a nice feather pillow and eat a tub of Ben & Jerry's.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 7 |
| Songwriting: | 4 |
| Originality: | 4 |
| Production: | 5 |
 | Written on 16.11.2011 by I'm total pro; that's what I'm here for. |
Comments page 2 / 2
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
Written by psykometal on 17.11.2011 at 16:14 I think a lot of nu metal, and even metalcore, works like that with fans who moved on from that kind of sound. They'll listen to the same stuff again for nostalgic purposes, but not usually for pure enjoyment factor. I listen to old DevilDriver still because I like their first three albums, but Beast and PFV are just not worth the time for me.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| psykometal A staff guy... Elite Posts: 6101  |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 17.11.2011 at 20:02 I'd have to agree. There is only one metalcore band I still follow because I feel that they are still releasing good material and that's As I Lay Dying, I honestly think they keep getting better (The Powerless Rise was awesome imo); otherwise no I don't really listen to metalcore much. As for enjoyment factor I would agree but I think your wording is a bit wrong/off, the nostalgia gives that music an enjoyment factor; I don't still listen to Limp Bizkit just because I want to remember a memory attached to it I honestly still enjoy it but only because it's nostalgic, if I were listening to Limp Bizkit for the first time today I would hate it.  As for DevilDriver the only album of theirs I ever really jammed frequently was the eponymous debut, I checked out the next 2 albums but never really jammed them much because by the time the 2nd had come out I had become a full on black metal fanboy and if it wasn't black metal I didn't really pay it much attention and now I've transitioned into death metal (especially tech death) so a band like DevilDriver doesn't even really register on my interest-o-meter these days. 
---- ~Zep, Database and Forum Moderation~ 
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| Baz Anderson Staff Posts: 13254  |
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| theFIST Posts: 1074  |
Actually it isn"t that bad, it just has the problem that the good songs are ruined by overlong intros cut the first seconds off those songs: (-7) Dead to Rights (-20) Shitlist (-45) You Make me Sick (-19) Blur (-24) Lost (-20) Fortune Favors the Brave and remove the ones not mentioned, maybe keeping Coldblooded as a filler track you"d get a really awesome (at least for DevilDriver standards) album
---- http://metalstormmusicianscorner.bandcamp.com Written by Warman on 07.11.2007 at 22:39
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| bloodface Posts: 48  |
Quote: i completely agree with this.....and even if you don't agree it's not like coal chamber had any impact on darkthrone's world. i would much rather hear mudvayne on the radio over katy perry. i am going to listen to korn now and bounce, bounce bounce....later i might close my self in my bedroom and listen to burzum and dakthrone (wondering if i should clarify the works of those two artists that i find most satisfying to embellish my integrity).
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