American groove metal masters DEVILDRIVER have released their fifth studio album entitled Beast via Roadrunner Records, and this reviewer – after following the band from its eponymous debut in 2003 – can say unequivocally that Beast is hands down their best work to date; a superlative sonic serial killing that your ears will only love you more for upon a complete listen of its twelve overtly-rampaging tracks. You get a shit ton of range throughout from Dez and company on purely adrenaline-fueled, face blasting cuts like “Shitlist”, “Talons Out (Teeth Sharpened)” and “The Blame Game”. Dez sounds meaner and more pissed on the vocals here than at anytime in his legendary musical career. Recorded at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas by famed producer Mark Lewis, Beast works its ass off non-stop from start to end – so you are certainly going to get your money’s worth – thanks to both the incredibly bold and passionate shred-guitar team work of Kendrick/Spreitzer and a frantic, machine-like rhythm skull fucking from drummer John Boecklin and bassist Jon Miller that truly has to be heard to be believed. The band clearly experiments more than ever before on Beast, opting to cover the alternative country group 16 HORSEPOWER’s “Black Soul Choir” on track ten… which I must admit definitely is one of my personal favorites on the entire record. Honestly, BEAST blew me away on first listen… but on listen number three I decided that this collection of songs is so good that it deserved to be given a perfect score. Point blank, Devildriver in 2011 and its gargantuan sound of Heavy Metal fury personified finds the lineup shattering boundaries for itself that not even this die hard fan saw coming.
ROCKET REVIEW:[starreview tpl=16]
DEVILDRIVER – “Beast” (CD)
(Roadrunner Records/2011)
1. Dead To Rights
2. Bring The Fight (To The Floor)
3. Hardened
4. Shitlist
5. Talons Out (Teeth Sharpened)
6. You Make Me Sick
7. Coldblooded
8. Blur
9. The Blame Game
10. Black Soul Choir
11. Crowns Of Creation
12. Lend Myself To The Night
http://www.devildriver.com/
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