It’s good to see that metal stalwart Dez Fafara has not been too wrapped up in a nu-metal renaissance. Amid the recent live dabbling with 90’s metal whipping boys (or heroes, depending on where you stand) Coal Chamber, he has found the time to record a new album with his day job Devildriver, and it is a corker.

Outside of the CC reunion, the Devildriver boys have left their home of Roadrunner Records and joined Napalm Records, a label with a more underground nature and noted for more extreme acts. This move may explain why on Winter Kills the band sound fiercer and with a greater urgency than they have for a long time. Previous effort Beast didn’t quite ride the wave of momentum that they were mustering up with 2009’s Pray To Villains, but here it feels like the fire is well and truly back.

Devildriver were never going to be ones to throw a curveball into their sound, with experimental jazz parts or whatever; instead Winter Kills takes the best parts that they have done in the past. With the catchy song writing cues of the anthemic Pray For Villains, but with the ferocity and pace of the likes of The Last Kind Words and the debut and less mid pace tracks, Winter Kills represents not only their best album to date but perhaps their most representative. Album closer ‘Sail’ bucks the trend somewhat with a more eerie, brooding tone to normal, complete with Black Sabbath akin guitar parts and even delicate female backing vocals; where despite Fafara’s bark not quite fitting completely it does prove to be the most interesting song the band have written.

As Dez stated himself, the title represents rebirth (and perhaps a lot of Game Of Thrones loving) and proves apt for his current state of affairs, both with the Coal Chamber reunion, and the return of Devildriver as a genuinely formidable force.

8/10

Chris Tippell

Devildriver – Facebook