Devildriver: Pray For Villains
The All-Important Fourth Album From the California Titans, Reviewed!
Aug 2, 2009
This far into his career, fans could forgive Dez Fafarra for resting on his laurels a bit.
Seven years and three albums since the demise of previous act Coal Chamber, he is no longer a by-word for daft outfits and boring nu-metal and has transformed into a hero of the modern American metal scene. With the success of The Last Kind Words, world record circle pit attempts and even two appearances on Scrubs(!), it wouldn't be surprising if Pray For Villains consisted of a dozen filler tracks to fill the time before the next festival season.
Thankfully, this is not the case and if anything, success has made them hungrier for more. Lurking behind the artwork of the world's most evil Owl is an impressively bruising album. There are no obvious singles or ballads in sight and instead there are a whopping thirteen cuts of brutally heavy music. They've had a slice of the pie and now they want the custard.
Devildriver: Pray For Villains
One thing that's immediately striking though is the pacing. Pray For Villains is a slower, groovier record than its predecessor and all the heavier for it. Pure Sincerity, In The Cards and Resurrection Blvd. are far more content to chug along and slam big, meaty riffs out the speakers than to squeal along at high speed fury. This lends the record a macho swagger and certainly adds to the atmosphere, even if it slows things down perhaps a bit too much.
They still know how to let rip with the best of them however. The opening title track is classic Devildriver and has a stand out performance from John Boecklin who is rapidly becoming one of the finest heavy metal drummers out there. Another Night In London meanwhile could just as easily have been called Meet The Wretched 2, with its rapid riffing and Dez's unmistakable growl ranting on about nights out descending into violence.
This Is Not The End Of The Line
Unfortunately though, where previous Devildriver albums have known when to let up and let things breathe, Pray For Villains feels more bloated. There's just so many ideas thrown in that some inevitably fall flat. The duelling guitars at the climax of Fate Stepped In for example show Jeff Kendrick and Mike Spreitzer at the top of the game, but it's immediately followed by Back With A Vengeance, a misguided tough guy anthem that is more cringeworthy than fist-pumping.
When Pray For Villains is good though, it's terrific and it'd be easy for songs like Bitter Pill to find their way comfortably into the live show. It's not as impressive as The Last Kind Words but it's leagues ahead of Coal Chamber's entire back catalogue and shows once and for all, that Dez is now one hundred percent pure headbanger.
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