Tag Archives: groove metal

Reviews

Strike and Kill: How do Devildriver do Following up Dealing with Demons?

Leave a comment

The first new music from the Californian groove metallers since 2023’s conclusion of their Dealing with Demons collection, Devildriver’s 11th album more than lives up to their previous music. I’ve been a fan for a good while now, and am always excited to hear new music from Dez Fafara and co., so when this came across our emails I knew I’d be diving into a full review. From epic riffs to crushing breakdowns to some aggressive but melodic vocals, the band typically do it all to perfection. Strap in, ladies and gents, let’s do this!

Things start off expectedly heavy with ‘Dig Your Own Grave’. Straddling that line between thrash, death and metalcore that the band do so well, the drums and riffing is fast paced right from the jump. Dez’s vocals soon come over the top, fitting the vibe perfectly with his grit and semi-scream. The whole thing feels like the perfect blend of Lamb of God and Machine Head, and I love every second! And the chorus, while still heavy, is pretty damn catchy in a way that only Devildriver seem to be able to pull off. And my god, all the guitar solos and lead lines throughout… *chefs kiss*. The bridge builds perfectly into a brutal breakdown, one that fits the track perfectly and showcases the bands groovy nature alongside their faster side. The whole track sets the tone for the rest of the album excellently, and is a huge early highlight!

‘Dead in the Water’ picks up right where the previous track left off; an epic intro falling away into a massive, Blastbeat-filled riff. The pace keeps up through the verse and bridge, once again leading to a heavy but surprisingly bouncy chorus. We also get a blistering guitar solo or three in the middle, packed full of technicality and harmonies. Some may say that it goes on a bit too long but not this writer, I think it fits excellently within the song and is a real showcase of the bands abilities as a whole. It’s another awesome song and one I’d recommend to anyone even vaguely a fan of the band!

A more nu/industrial metal vibe runs through ‘Sanctified in Scars’. The riffing is very much like a Drowning Pool, Static X or even Tetrarch, and the bounce to its rhythm harkens back to the early 2000s in a big way. Having said that, it still feels so very Devildriver in the best way. And Davier Pérez is going just as hard as ever behind that kit, too. Arguably it gets heavier and more chaotic in choruses, the opposite of the previous two songs. Having said that, the backing vocals make it still an incredibly catchy one, and one of my favourite on the album. The bridge doesn’t have much to it but still feels like it fills the gap rather perfectly in a song like this. It’s a breakdown and then some awesome lead lines, and truly adds to the song in a great way. This is another excellent song, and one that easily makes our playlist!

The albums namesake is a bit slower a pace, the heaviness still there but it having more of an epic, Rotting Christ air to it at times . The pace picks back up to Machine Head-esque levels near the minute mark, but the intro was a nice change of pace, and does give the track an overall grandiose nature, especially as it comes back for the choruses. It’s a heavy track that feels like it combines together everything we’ve heard from this album up to this point. It’s fucking awesome! And that half time bit at the end was AMAZING. The band are so far four for four with fantastic songs!

‘In the Moonlight’ starts lower, the distorted vocals over a clean guitar sound being a fun new twist to their sound here. It expected soon explodes into a huge, fast riff, instantly giving off more melodeath vibes than ever before. The grooviness comes back for the pre, the track opening out from its ferocious instrumentation while maintaining its heaviness. However, there are plenty of great melodic moments throughout that stand out against the more all-out-assault style we’ve heard so far. It definitely has a bit more of a European flavour to it. It’s a really interesting, awesome track that I’ve found myself revisiting more on subsequent listens. It’s another huge highlight of the album, that’s for sure, and one where everyone gets their chance to shine.

The following few tracks, ‘Ride or Die’, ‘Headed for the Fall’ and ‘Shut the Silence On’, are more balls to the wall tracks. All are fantastic tracks in their own right, with ‘Headed for the Fall’ being another big album highlight for me. But they all have a similar energy and, on a longer album, it’s hard not to group a few up a little bit! Honestly, it gives off vague vibes of early Parkway as well as the melodeath influences too. Either way, all three songs sound awesome. They are fast and heavy but each chorus is still an earworm! Dez’s vocals are fantastic on each, showing he hasn’t lost a step in the 30 years or so he’s been putting out music, but the rest of the band work their asses off and kill it too. Again, Pérez is an absolute beast behind that kit, and has been through the whole album. If you like the thrashier side of them, these tracks are for you!

The same could be said of music of the rest of the album, honestly. It’s interesting because all the tracks are amazing and I couldn’t cut any of them. However, 13 tracks these days is long, and when a lot of it is similar it does make me wonder if it would have been better served as another two-part album. Still, I am probably in the minority thinking in that way; after all complaining about too much good music is rather insane! Maybe it’s just the fast pace of the world these days, but it makes me slightly less likely to revisit the album in full as much if it’s long and similar. But as I said, ‘You’re Just a Ghost’, ‘Oath of Iron’ and ‘All Bets are Off’ are all fantastic tracks in their own right, and fit in with the rest of the album perfectly.

The exception to this ‘Summoning Shadows’. nestled away in the back third of the album, it’s very much the ballad, and changes the pace exceptionally well for its three minute runtime. Focusing around an acoustic guitar and Dez’s distorted vocals, it’s surprisingly beautiful, especially with the uplifting lyrics. Everything around these elements only add to the epic soundscape too; the depth on display on the track is superb. And it means that when the distorted guitars and drums come in in the latter half, it feels earned and hugely impactful. I always love it when Devildriver slow things down a bit, and this is another great example of that. Another huge highlight track on an album rather full of them!

Overall: This is another awesome release from one of the most underrated bands in metal. It’s packed full of amazing songs, with some up there among the very best the band have produced. The band all get a chance to shine plenty throughout, with both the playing and writing showcased being off the charts! I have already outlined my very minor gripes with the release, but in the grand scheme of things it barely makes a debt in the greatness that is Strike and Kill. If you are at all into the band or their general genres, this is well worth checking out! No one does it quite like Devildriver, and it’s a release that I will certainly be listening to most of a fair bit moving forward!

The Score: 8.5/10

Reviews

Into Oblivion: Lamb of God’s Best Album in Years?

Leave a comment

The whopping 10th studio album from the NWOAHM titans is arriving to a lot of hype this coming Friday. Being a fan of the band for well over a decade at this point, and having heard a couple of the singles, I have to say I have been DAMN excitedly waiting to hear it. After a couple of surprisingly mixed-received albums (among the fans, critics love them), they return after four years with what seems to be a sound a bit closer to their 2000s work. We got the chance to check this out a little early, and of course jumped at the chance! So, without further ado, let’s dive right in!

The title track is one we are very familiar here at Overtone already. I’ve gushed about it plenty already in my reaction video, and have listened to it plenty since. It’s the perfect way to introduce the album, and as I mentioned in said video, does feel like an immediate return to form for the band. And I’m saying that who was a fan of their last couple of releases, too. However, this has a real old-school LoG vibe to it, from the riffing to Randy’s vocals to the amazing drumming, it’s all fantastic! It’s like I was transported back to when I first discovered and got into them properly with Sacrament (I’m old, I know!) and I loved every second. They never lost it, but feel like they’ve found it again anyway, just adding it on top of the rest! It’s an amazing song, and a huge early-album highlight!

‘Parasocial Christ’ explodes in with heavy riffing and screaming immediately, keeping the energy flowing excellently. The balls-to-the-wall opening opens out a little for the second half of the verse, giving it more of a groove metal feel. It’s a perfectly chaotic song that all feels like it builds up more and more into its eventual chorus, coming nearly halfway into the track! And, it’s a damn good chorus, to boot, and followed up by an amazing (if all too short) guitar solo! It’s just a damn good heavy song, and Randy’s growls towards the end are FANTASTIC, really drawing the track together perfectly. Two for two on excellent songs, so far!

Single ‘Sepsis’ opens on a dirty, heavy bassline, backed amazingly by the steady drums. We get some ever-great spoken word stuff over the top from Randy to build it up even more. The guitars come in and the vocals turn to screams, but it still stays at the same steady pace and level, feeling ominous and still building, and soon drops back again. I love the steady, plodding pace of the first half of the track, especially after two thrashier ones. However, it still feels damn heavy, and so very Lamb of God. And it still grows more and gets to more of their core sound in the second half. And, it’s all seems to be a buildup to that awesome drop-out to Randy’s scream into that HUGE breakdown, it hitting so hard and being really masterful writing. Said breakdown runs for the rest of the track too, acting as the perfect closer. It does one of my pet peeves of fading out, but even then it’s that amazing I don’t have too much of an issue with it. It was an interesting choice for a single, but it’s a damn good track in its own right, and definitely another highlight!

A low, menacing riff introduces ‘The Killing Floor’ before it goes right back into their breakneck, heavy pace! It’s classic Lamb of God in the best way. The same could be said for recent single ‘Blunt Force Blues’ and ‘Bully’. All are fantastic tracks in their own right and fit the tone and flow of the album perfectly. They are well worth checking out, and are only grouped together here to make the article more manageable as otherwise I’d be repeating myself a much and coming across as even more of a fangirl than I already am!

‘El Vacío’ slows things down perfectly at the halfway mark of the album. A clean, almost Tool-like riff kicks things off, with some low, clean vocals, something Randy has incorporated masterfully in recent years. Even when it explodes in with the distortion and heaviness for the chorus, it still stays at a slower pace. It kinda feels like the ballad of the album, and placed arguably perfectly within it. It’s a style that few can pull off as successfully as LoG, with the only that immediately springs to mind being Malevolence. However, I’d put this up there with any track they’ve put out in this vein, that’s for sure! It’s a really interesting song, and honestly one that pretty easily makes our playlist!

‘St Catherine’s Wheel’ is another interesting track. It’s insanely fast, but also has an arrangement more like a Gojira song than anything else. The dynamics throughout are wild, starting with distant drums and guitar, going hard for seconds, before dropping out to the high riffing, awesome drumming and vocals. Don’t get me wrong, it builds up to some CHUNKY LoG style stuff pretty quick, but changing it up is always highly appreciated. The chorus is awesome too, heavy and catchy in equal measure, and one of my favourite on the album! And the riffing behind it… *chefs kiss*. I mean, the riffing through the whole track is amazing, as the breakdown/bridge is also excellent. To I’m sure no shock at all, I loved this song, and it’ yet another that I’d urge anyone reading this to check out!

The final two songs, ‘A Thousand Years’ and ‘Devise/Destroy’ are both once again bangers in their own right. The former is a more plodding, groove metal number that has some of Randy’s best ever clean vocals, as well as some absolutely phenomenal screams. Then you have the closer that is just as balls-to-the-wall as the opening couple of numbers, bringing the album full-circle excellently. It’s heavy, full of attitude and once again has some incredible riffing and a great chorus. Both are two more huge highlight tracks on an album honestly full of them!

Overall: Going into this expecting big things after a couple of the singles, this somehow blew me away even more than I’d hoped for! It has plenty of old-school Lamb of God moments, but also has some stuff that is more akin to their more modern sound, though done in such a way that it feels heavy, dark and more like them than ever. The change of their logo wasn’t just done because it had been a while; it feels like a bold new chapter of the band, and I am all for it! It feels like a culmination of everything that has come before it, with a sprinkling of modern, new sounds added on top to fantastic results. If you have ever at all been a fan of the band or the style, this is an absolute must-listen!

The Score: 9/10