DevilDriver

You don't wanna fuck with Devildriver.

On Pray for Villains, these five Southern California cowboys from Hell have their six guns drawn and aimed right at the competition. They blow absolutely everyone away too. The international heavy metal hype machine never gave them the credit that they deserve. The media has always been way too busy blowing the horn for the likes of Lamb of God, Mastodon, Suicide Silence and Job for a Cowboy. However, Pray for Villains is a metallic masterpiece—one of the only records from the "New Wave of American Heavy Metal" that you'll want to play for your kids someday.

Pray for Vilains allows each member of Devildriver the space to shine. These five men all deserve the devil's due. On tracks like "Pure Sincerity" and "Forgiveness is a Six Gun," John Boecklin's drumming simply destroys. He can shift from incendiary, demonic double bass to polyrhythmic madness seamlessly. In fact, Boecklin combines Dave Lombardo's penchant for percussive pummeling with Danny Carey's innovative, intriguing time signature changes. In other words, Boecklin is the best of both worlds. Jon Miller's bass playing remains just as powerful, and when he and Boecklin lock in on songs like "Waiting for November," it's full metal brilliance. Miller lays down intense grooves, but he can also fire up and down the fretboard like a guitar player.

At the center of Devildriver's assault stands Jeff Kendrick and Mike Spreitzer. There is no duo like them, and Pray for Villains illustrates their evolution as a team. "Back with a Vengeance" commences with a wah-pedal solo that's haunting and hypnotic—reminiscent of classic Alice In Chains. "I've Been Sober" shows how diverse both men are with a melodic clean break in the middle. They smoke other duos because they don't simply mimic each other. Rather, they volley riffs and leads with smart bomb precision, and most importantly they write anthems that are impossible to forget. Would-be shredders everywhere should study their playing.

Dez Fafara is one of the best frontmen that heavy metal has ever seen. His charisma and energy are all over Pray for Villains. During the title track, his bellow seesaws from brutal to brooding during a bombastic hook. His voice is overpowering on the closing track "I See Belief." The passion inherent in Dez's delivery is utterly inspiring. It's as if each song is a personal exorcism in the most beautiful way possible. Dez also busts out some great clean vocals perfectly balancing out his apocalyptic screaming. He also has written some of the most visual and poignant lyrics of his career, philosophizing about loss, death and redemption.

Pray has all the ingredients of a classic. It's Devildriver's time. You'd better Pray…

—Rick Florino
07.26.09

It seems like with each successive release, DevilDriver keep turning up the dial of heaviness. And on their fourth studio album overall, 2009's Pray for Villains, the group continues plowing forward with this approach. Screams, growls, raging riffs, and impressively airtight drumming are all crucial ingredients to the DevilDriver metallic recipe. Produced by former Machine Head guitarist Logan Mader, Pray for Villains hits you like a ton of bricks from the get-go with the album-opening title track (and leadoff single) and never lets up, as evidenced by such brutal tracks as "Fate Stepped In" and "Forgiveness Is a Six Gun," among other dangerous ditties. Pray for Villains confirms once and for all that Dez Fafara has totally shed the nu-metal schtick of Coal Chamber for the 100 percent pure headbanging fury of DevilDriver. ~ Greg Prato, Rovi