DevilDriver - Dealing With Demons I (Album Review)

DevilDriver – Dealing With Demons I
Released: October 2, 2020

Lineup

Dez Fafara | Vocals
Mike Spreitzer | Guitar
Neal Tiemann | Guitar
Austin D’Amond | Drums
Diego Ibarra | Bass

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Two years after experimenting with an album of country covers (Outlaws ‘Til The End,) Californian metal favourites DevilDriver return to familiar ground with a new offering of originals. I say ‘familiar’ in the sense that Dealing With Demons I returns to traditional metal territory, however in a few songs it’s clear Dez Fafara and crew have taken the country outing and used a few ideas to beef up their songs a tad.

The overall album is trademark DevilDriver, with a sound that is sure to please long-time fans. A tense intro begins ‘Keep Away From Me’ before crashing into the bands most brutal work to date, over the course of Dealing With Demons we get a relentless album that throws heavy riff after heavy riff in your face, with the signature vocal stylings of Dez keeping the intensity at full all the way.

If you’re here for the Metal, that’s exactly what you’ll get from tracks like ‘Vengeance Is Clear’ and ‘Nest Of Vipers,’ while ‘Iona’ is brutal with a haunting hook (She carries a black rose.) But the intensity is there all throughout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhL6OrTq1jM

‘Wishing’ has a cool verse with some great clean-vocal work by Dez, backed up with a brutal chorus and bluesy solo, leading into a slower, grunge-inspired jam with ‘You Give Me A Reason To Drink.’

The intensity continues in ‘Witches’ that’s just classic DevilDriver in it’s chorus, while the title track Dealing With Demons has all of what makes the band a favourite among fans – heavy-as-hell groove riffs, with a double kick line that pummels you in the chest.

The final two songs, ‘The Damned Don’t Cry’ and ‘Scars Me Forever,’ cements Dealing With Demons I as DevilDriver’s most brutal work to date. This band are good at delivering solid Metal and aren’t ashamed to stick to that strength, delivering an album that’s sure to be a bright spot in 2020 for DevilDriver fans.

DevilDriver – Dealing With Demons I tracklisting

1. Keep Away From Me
2. Vengeance Is Clear
3. Nest Of Vipers
4. Iona
5. Wishing
6. You Give Me A Reason To Drink
7. Witches
8. Dealing With Demons
9. The Damned Don’t Cry
10. Scars Me Forever

Rating: 7/10
Dealing With Demons is out tomorrow via Napalm Records. Pre-Order here
Review By – Simon Valentine (@SimonValentine1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb5g1rDeWxE