DevilDriver - Winter Kills
Californian quintet DevilDriver are back with their 6th studio album, Winter Kills and it appears it's not only fans who are excited about this one. Vocalist Dez Fafara has already made his enthusiasm known, proclaiming in a recent interview "this really is our best record!" - a pretty out there statement to make from the frontman himself. Although, after listening to Winter Kills it's evident to see where he's coming from.
For those hardcore DevilDriver fans there's still enough of the band's signature sound exhibited throughout the album including a killer Jeff Kendrick guitar solo in Haunting refrain, as well as short, punchy hard-hitting vocals embedded in Ruthless. These alongside The Appetite's eerie build up and trademark Fafara growl really give off that macabre and haunting feel which coincide with the seemingly appropriate album artwork.
In spite of recent material causing divided opinions, Dez insists Winter Kills is a hybrid somewhat of the second and third studio albums The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand and The Last Kind Words. Considering both are widely accredited as favourites within the DevilDriver fan community, this can only be seen as a hugely positive comparison to make.
Although not altogether gravitating too far from the band's trademark style of heavy riffs and groove metal elements, Winter Kills does bring a few surprises. One of which being Sail, which appears as the final track on the Winter Kills album.
Now, for anyone who's not familiar with electronic indie rockers AWOLNATION it may go unnoticed that this in fact a well disguised cover. Fafara is said to have discovered the song through his teenage sons and automatically connected with the "Blame it on my ADD" lyrics due to his own experiences with attention deficit disorder. From a personal perspective, it has to be said - it's a good cover. It appears somewhat more groove and melody orientated in comparison to the rest of Winter Kills, which I can imagine will divide opinions of those in favour of the usual heavier and more aggressive sounding DevilDriver tracks. Nevertheless, it's an intriguing take on a catchy and unsuspecting electronic based melody and is definitely worth a listen.
Overall, it's apparent DevilDriver are making no immediate plans of slowing down with a new record label, bassist (Chris Towning) and album in tow. With 11 tracks of hard-hitting groove, melodic and death metal sounds, in my opinion, Winter Kills is a perfectly respectable yet different approach for the band. Although personally falling slightly short of living up to second and third studio albums, it's definitely up there and along the right lines.