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DevilDriver - The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand review




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Reviewer:
9.0

289 users:
8.18
Band: DevilDriver
Album: The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand
Release date: June 2005


01. End Of The Line
02. Driving Down The Darkness
03. Grinfucked
04. Hold Back The Day
05. Sin & Sacrifice
06. Ripped Apart
07. Pale Horse Apocalypse
08. Just Run
09. Impending Disaster
10. Bear Witness Unto
11. Before The Hangman's Noose
12. The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand
13. Unlucky 13 [2006 reissue bonus]
14. Guilty As Sin [2006 reissue bonus]
15. Digging Up The Corpses [2006 reissue bonus]
16. I Could Care Less [live] [2006 reissue bonus]
17. Hold Back The Day [live] [2006 reissue bonus]
18. Ripped Apart [live] [2006 reissue bonus]
+ End Of The Line [video] [2006 reissue bonus]
+ Hold Back The Day [video] [2006 reissue bonus]
+ I Could Care Less [video] [2006 reissue bonus]
+ Nothing's Wrong [video] [2006 reissue bonus]

Although some of the melodies on this album are still a tad trite, it is nevertheless extremely impressive how much Devildriver have streamlined and improved their sound since I heard them the last time. As a matter of fact, it almost seems as if they did exactly what I advised them to do in my review of their debut album. All traces of nu-metal are gone and what remains is a fierce thrash metal hybrid that should impress even the staunchest of metal's malcontents.

Devildriver have one very useful knack, which is sounding very modern and fresh even though they use musical elements that have already been played to death by other bands. This might be due to the fact that they successfully and tastefully synthesize various forms of extreme metal into a coherent and consistent solution. At the same time, using all of these various elements doesn't sound forced as is the case with most older thrash bands trying to insert contemporary metal elements into their music (think Kreator, Exodus and Slayer). The general dynamics of the music bring to mind thrash metal, the heaviness is straight out of the Florida-school of Death Metal and there is a definitive hint of Black Metal coldness in the melodies that the band generously injects into their brew. The fact that all of this is performed with unbelievable aggression and brutality also helps, as does the crystal-clear, yet heavy production (courtesy of the legendary Colin Richardson). The band's drummer John Boecklin is easily one of the top drummers in America right now and Dez Fafara's growl displays an impressive range (he goes from low-end growls to high-pitch screams and is usually fairly melodic in his delivery). The band also very wisely avoids sounding similar to the army of metalcore bands now dominating the metal mainstream, which makes their music sound a lot more respectable.

Frankly, there are no bad songs on this album and it is pretty hard to point out any highlights. It's a consistent flow of high-quality metal all the way through. Both the ultra-aggressive pieces like "Just Run", "Bear Witness Unto" (check out the old-school thrash riff on this one!) or "End Of The Line" and the more melodic numbers like "Hold Back The Day" (this one borrows a lot from REAL melodic Death Metal), "Sin And Sacrifice" and the title track are of incredibly high quality and are a pleasure to listen to and mosh to. The band also pulls of some extremely successful thrash riffs throughout the record. I was totally shocked at how good some of these songs are! With all this said, the lyrics that Dez Fafara screams throughout the album seem to be a little juvenile at times. Not that they are totally embarrassing or for that matter, easily decipherable, which makes it easy to forgive them and to focus on enjoying the music.

After the meager impression that the band's debut album gave me, I would have never guessed that I would say this one day; however, I am absolutely certain that Devildriver's The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand is one of the best metal releases this year and one of the better extreme metal releases I have ever heard. A serious contender for thrash metal album of the year - highly recommended.





Written on 06.09.2005 by With Metal Storm since 2002, jupitreas has been subjecting the masses to his reviews for quite a while now. He lives in Warsaw, Poland, where he does his best to avoid prosecution for being so cool.


Comments

Comments: 18   Visited by: 144 users
23.11.2006 - 23:13
Baz Anderson

wow, you do like this album
i would be interested to know if you still thought as highly of it now seeing as this was done over a year ago

i was a huge huge fan of this band but then i just sort of stopped listening to them. it isnt like i went off them or anything - i just stopped lsitening to them
i am having a listen to this album now though and i can still say that i really like the band

what category would you put this band into?
thrash metal/melodic death metal?
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24.11.2006 - 01:08
-tom-
Mr FancyPants
the link to your other review doesn't work.

i haven't heard this new album so can't comment (though ill look into getting a few mp3s) but the first album was pretty boring. i think it is quite amusing that dez fafara can simply quit coal chamber, move onto something thats "cool" in this decade (while retaining the cringeworthy nu-metal-ness of his former project), act like he means something to the metal scene and expect to be taken seriously. if he tried something different id have some respect for him but while stating that hes "always been into the more extreme side of metal", all he's doing is trying to distance himself from his now-uncool former project and trying to do the same thing again (i.e. conforming to whats fashionable with todays mindless teens and collecting his paycheques).
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"This rudderless world is not shaped my metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us"

Read Watchmen.
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24.11.2006 - 01:53
Baz Anderson

that might be true, but it might not be either..
there is always the cynical view of 'he is just following the trends' - but maybe he actually has always been into extreme metal..
there must have been some differences for Coal Chamber to split

i always try to look on the good side of people and trust they tell the truth
looking at them perform live, etc. - Dez really enjoys himself so it would be a surprise if he is just doing it because its 'cool'
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24.11.2006 - 01:56
jupitreas
hi-fi / lo-life
Also, does the whole nu-metal vs. extreme metal thing really matter all that much and does anybody care?
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24.11.2006 - 02:14
Rating: 7
Dangerboner
Lactation Cnslt
I've never thought of Devildriver being nu-metal and I'm not about to. I used to like this band quite a bit, but for some unknown reason, I haven't listened to them for a long time. From what I remember, this is definitely a good album but I still like their first one better. The songs on their previous album are more distinct and creative than the ones here. Dez has some pretty cool vocals and he's the biggest reason for me liking this band. I'll be looking forward to hearing their new album next year.


\M/ YOOUU'VE BEEN GRIIIIINNNNFUUUUCCCKKKED \M/
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24.11.2006 - 02:39
Baz Anderson

no, i never thought of them as being a nu-metal band either
i was a big fan of Coal Chamber (yes i can admit it. hahaha) so naturally i wandered into this band when they released their first album - but i just severed all tied with nu-metal in my mind and so never associated them with nu-metal at all
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24.11.2006 - 22:56
-tom-
Mr FancyPants
I'm not making a "nu metal is gay" argument here despite thats what you're implying. i just find it hard to take dez fafara seriously. he was in a band that was carefully crafted by roadrunner to appeal to every lowest-common-denominator teenager in hearing distance and at a time where that band started to become unfashionable, he just happened to start a new project that appeals to the youth of today and disregarded the previous decade of his life by simply stating "extreme metal has always been my passion". Doesn't his attitude towards his former band reflect how seriously he should be taken? he was happy to simply stay in a band he didn't like for 9 years and not bother with any serious projects until he could no longer make a living from CC, or he's lying and is happy to simply disregard a decade of work because its deemed "uncool".

Dismiss my comment as simply hating nu-metal because its now cool to do that if you want but if you're familiar with my posts on the forum, you'll know that my attitude is far from being "YAY! all extreme metal is great".

My cynicism towards dez fafara isn't unjustified.
----
"This rudderless world is not shaped my metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us"

Read Watchmen.
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24.11.2006 - 23:05
jupitreas
hi-fi / lo-life
Just listen to the music and forget about the guy. Coal Chamber was pretty good nu-metal and Devildriver is pretty good extreme metal. End of story.
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06.12.2006 - 00:49
Möbius
Account deleted
Man I love this album. Almost every track makes me wanna jump and headbang through the wall. only the first sicth and seventh songs are not this good. But the rest is amazing. Even groovy sometimes.
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12.12.2006 - 04:17
Rating: 7
devildriver86

VERY GOOD ALBUM ive been a fan of Dez Fafara since his coal chamber days and every since he formed DevilDriver he has become a whole lot better and this album is prolly one of my favorites and ive heard alot of really good album i give this a 10 no doubt about that
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27.12.2006 - 07:12
Rating: 7
Doc G.
Full Grown Hoser
At first I absolutely hated this band, but then I saw them live, and they were probably one of the most insane bands ive ever seen live, a mosh that i could only compare to a war zone. It took me seeing them live to fully appreciate them. Now I absolutely love this band and especially this album.
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"I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck."
- George Carlin
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06.03.2007 - 10:56
chris_metalhead

this is an awesome album fullstop
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you should all check out a band called synthetic breed.
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27.04.2008 - 02:57
Uirapuru
Liver Failure
this album is ok... doesnt deserve a 9,0, absolutly not... 7,6 would be fair to me.
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member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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27.04.2008 - 09:31
Rating: 9
BloodTears
ANA-thema
I like DevilDriver, this one is a blast. The 5 first songs on the album are great indeed.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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17.07.2009 - 15:06
Rating: 9
Solstafir!

VAST improvement from their last album...which, to be honest, just downright sucked!!!
I was pleasantly surprised as I didn't give them an ounce of a chance to succeed...
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29.01.2010 - 20:53
Maxx666
Meshuggahian
A must have album for a seriously violent moshpit.End Of the line nearly snapped my neck.
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01.02.2010 - 17:48
Rating: 10
thewall30

Amazing album, such improvement over their debut...
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09.09.2010 - 07:15
demonsarising

Written by Baz Anderson on 23.11.2006 at 23:13

wow, you do like this album
i would be interested to know if you still thought as highly of it now seeing as this was done over a year ago

i was a huge huge fan of this band but then i just sort of stopped listening to them. it isnt like i went off them or anything - i just stopped lsitening to them
i am having a listen to this album now though and i can still say that i really like the band

what category would you put this band into?
thrash metal/melodic death metal?

I would say its a mix between melodeath and groove.
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