DevilDriver - Pray For Villains

Published August 01 2009

*=Staff's pick	Pray For Villains Pure Sincerity Fate Stepped In Back With A Vengeance I've Been Sober* Resurrection Blvd. Forgiveness Is A Six Gun Waiting For November* It's In The Cards Another Night In London Bitter Pill* Teach Me To Whisper* I See Belief

Genre	Melodic Death Metal	Dez Fafara	Vocals
Tracks	13	Mike Spreitzer	Guitar
Runningtime	56 Min.	Jeff Kendrick	Guitar
Label	Roadrunner Records	Jon Miller	Bass
Release	14 July 2009	John Boecklin	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	---

The music from DevilDriver is a little bit hard to place. Is it death metal, is it just standard metal or what is it? I personally would like to call it plain metal with a touch of death, but with a lot of groovy parts, almost a little bit like death'n'roll. Either way, they have up to this point always released quality music and this time around, on their fourth full length offering, is no exception.

Pray For Villains continues where they left us the last time with The Last Kind Words (2007) and before that with The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand (2006). The groovy riffing is intact as is vocalist Dez Fafara's suitable voice and their characteristic melodies are still there, interacting with the heavy riffs and are spicing it all up in their own special way.

The difference this time around is that I do not find as many wow-moments as I have in the past. The songs roll along safely in a secure and recognisable DevilDriver way with some peaks, but I am not blown away.

There are not as many killer songs on this album as on the two last ones, but we find a few delicious ones at least (I've Been Sober, Bitter Pill). Instead, this album is more steady straight through with a high lowest level. It feels like they have taken it down a notch this time and are trying to do more "normal" and somewhat streamlined songs instead of taking out the turns with melodies and twists.

I have come to like them the most when they pull off songs like the great and catchy Bitter Pill, and that is how I personally like my DevilDriver. More songs like that is on my wishlist for the next album. Once again a good album, but it is not up to par with the two latest ones.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7,5	8	7,5	8	6,5

Summary
6,5 chalices of 10 - Tommy