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version seven. http://demongin.org |
Pray for Villains (2009)
DevilDriver
Impression published on Monday, 2009-11-02 | Album | 4 stars
Two things up front: first, I really like this album. Second, I have (to the best of my knowledge) never heard a Coal Chamber song in my life.
I mention these facts up front because, based on some cursory searching, I have discovered that DevilDriver is a band that was started by the former frontman of Coal Chamber and that it's something of a sore spot for fans of the old band (which met with its end on account of the new band, according to those fans who have the sore spot).
But putting all of that to one side, I'd like to make the case, in extreme brevis for why you should also like this album:
- It's fast: the drums run at 64ths most of the time and DevilDriver almost never dicks around with long, music interludes where nothing cool is happening.
- It's dark: from what I can tell, most of the subject matter has to deal with addictions, despair, violence and being pissed off about feeling bad.
- It's hard: while you have some big, whole note rhythms, there's plenty of super-fast shredding and the bass, which pulses authoritatively throughout, almost never does that loopy, "walk-down-the-scale" jazz crap that ruins a lot of metal records.
- It's short: while some of the criticism I discovered in my cursory search chides this band for being too "mainstream" (i.e. relying on the so-called "grand bass" or the familiar pop intervals) and depending on traditional pop song structure, my feeling about songs is that if they're more than two minutes and 40 seconds long, they better be fucking great. DevilDriver moves quickly. I like that.
- It's got high production values: there's a lot of synth and tonal embellishment. Your friend and mine, Nate Winter, noticed the album's "shiny" sound. It's a shiny album. That's a strength.
