Customer Reviews

Fury of Our Maker's Hand

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

DevilDriver really didn't get off on the right foot as a new band. For those of you who don't know, they were originally Dez Fafara's side project; Dez spent time with his side project, but his main attention was on Coal Chamber. Luckily for DevilDriver, it was only a matter of time before they released their debut, Coal Chamber split up, and Dez focused on DevilDriver. But Dez had a hard time making a clean slate with his new band and putting his old one behind him. First of all, he developed a feud with the bassist of his former band, Rayna and her husband, Sevendust's drummer Morgan Rose. And DevilDriver's self-titled debut was heavier and faster than anything CC ever made, but it also, inevitably, drew comparisons. Even though it was tinged with thrash, it still had nu-metal influence. Then in 2004, Dez and Co. released "Digging Up the Corpses" for the "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" soundtrack; this b-side was not at all impressive. So, DD would have to do a lot of work to get the publicity Coal Chamber had.

Now we have "Fury of Our Maker's Hand," an album which should step out of Coal Chamber's shadow and cut all of Dez's ties to his past. Even though I still don't understand why Coal Chamber couldn't just evolve and become heavier (as heavy as DevilDriver), this group's sophomore release is definitely better than their 2003 debut. "Fury" is sinister, energetic and explosive. The guitar work is fierce and pummeling. Mike Spreitzer and Jeff Kendrick are amazingly good for rather small time, unknown guitarists. And the production is clearer; making the guitars crisp and articulate. Next, the deft drum work makes the beats thump. Finally, Dez foams at the mouth with rage throughout every track. These things make "FoOMH" a blizzard of savage thrash metal.

Musically, this band is kind of like old school Sepultura meets Lamb of God. What prevents DevilDriver from being a typical metalcore or death metal band is the vocals. Dez doesn't exactly sing cleanly, like many popular metal bands (i.e. Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall). On the contrary, he puts his fast, born to snarl voice to good use on most of this album. But his vocals aren't monstrous enough (like Lamb of God's Randy Blythe) to make Devildriver death metal.

Highlights include:

"End of the Line" has a peaceful intro, with guitars that could be acoustics. The pounding drums eventually come in and turbo charge the beat, making it a whiplash speed. Then Dez lets out two of his patented, creepy, devilish growls. This song, the album's first single, then continues to hit hard and sound awesome with heavy, rhythmic riffs. "End of the Line" would also make for a good DevilDriver concert starter.
"Driving Down the Darkness" has chugging guitars and drums, but this changes to a lurching beat with stop-start drums. I enjoy the part of this song where one guitarist plays a blistering fast riff, which, at first, is only audible in one headphone. Like "End of the Line," this song is very catchy and should make a great mosh pit.
"Hold Back the Day" has another deceptively slow intro, but the power chords kick in around the 30 second mark. The guitars play more thrashy, searing riffs and the drums create a good give and take. This song's chorus is very catchy (thanks mostly because of Dez's vocal hooks), and it ends with a little bit of feedback from the drums.
"Ripped Apart" has another fast opening guitar riff and pounding drums. The usual wall of impenetrable music is created for most of this song, but it ends with more light, acoustic-sounding guitar work (which I believe was included solely to break up the monotony between tracks.
"Just Run" has more Sepultura style guitar and drum work, and "Impending Disaster" is another exciting track. It has a very fast beat coupled with propulsive guitar riffs and almost machine gun double bass drumming.
"Before the Hangman's Noose" has pounding, punching guitar riffs which create a staccato, almost bobbing beat at times. Dez spouts sayings like "It's a good day to die" and "All hell breaks loose" from his gut, but my favorite part of this song is when the beat builds (like it's running uphill), and then it shoots downhill with some tumbling, cascading riffs.
Finally, the title track has buzzsaw riffs which are so fast, they kind of sound like helicopter blades.

But, unfortunately, (since pretty much all of these songs are equally as dark), "The Fury of Our Maker's Hand" does have some overkill. Other than some soft intros and outros to break up the monotony, about every song picks up where the last one left off. And I would have liked if this disc had some more breakdowns. This doesn't really drag this album down, but a band that's as heavy as DevilDriver must be able to make some killer breakdowns, but this disc has only a couple of them (as in "End of the Line"), and only a few other surprises.

My final grievance with this album is that Dez's vocals are barely different from when he debuted with Coal Chamber in 1997. Granted, they are faster, here, and a snarly voice does go best with this type of music. And I'm not asking Dez to croon or even sing cleanly, but I think "Fury of Our Maker's Hand" would have less overkill if the vocals were a bit more multi-faceted.

So, what we have here is an album which should make for some great mosh pits at DevilDriver's live shows. This is an album that is full of thrashy, blistering guitar riffs which flow like water from a faucet. "Fury of Our Maker's Hand" is definitely a step above this band's debut, and it may not be the best or most innovative album of the year, but it does make for a VERY entertaining listen. And you don't have to buy into Dez's supposed Wiccan religion and gothic attitude to enjoy DevilDriver's new sound, so don't take this C.D. (or anything Dez says) too seriously.

Ok, so i only need to say this once...this album is amazing. the noodle man was right, its pure brutal metal. Dez's voice is angry, evil and even energetic at times. Yes, i said it, Energetic. The band is solid and show just how much they have progressed from their self titled CD that it makes me wonder what they hell they will do next. The re-release of this CD On Halloween 06' should be intresting in that dez has said on Sirius's Hard Attack Channel that some of the songs will tweaked a bit and may contain bonus tracks. Basicly kids, these guys know what they are doing, they know how to please the metal community and they know what we all are begging for. So do yourself a favor and pick up this cd and climb inside the mastermind that is Devildriver.

Hell Yes this CD Kicks A$$! I picked up this CD on a recommendation of a good friend that has the same taste in music. I was hooked after the first time I listened to it. If you liked the original Coal Chamber, you will be very happy with this release.

The vocals are true to Dez's style and the riffs are a lot heavier than Coal Chamber. Some of the highlight tracks on this CD are: GRINFU@KED, loud and angry from the start. RIPPED APART, sounds a bit like Slipknot but still a good track. DRIVING DOWN THE DARKNESS, medium speed but good rhythm and drum line.

For comparison, some of the other bands I listen to are: Slayer, Lamb of God, Tool, Ministry, Shadows Fall, & Pantera.

these guys are one of my favorites right now. in my opinion, this album is flawless. fans of trivium and lamb of god may like this. all the songs are perfect.

Especially Impending Disaster! crank it and slam your head against the wall! Dez and co deliver here.... Solid!

The guys rip, tear, and just f#$^ the stage live, so good i bought this cd the next day along with in flames thank god for them too. UNFORGETTABLE!! BUY this cd its got it all, nice begining great lyrics, fast pace, and hardcore, worth a try, you wont regret it!!!!!! IF you have a chance to see them live its a chance you dont want to miss!!!

Devildriver has created something that has made them unstoppable. This album will burn deep into your soul and leave a scar of epic proportions. The vocals have definitely improved and Dez has shown that he can mature lyrically as a vocalist, such as in "Sin and Sacrifice." Every song on this album is done wonderfully. "End of the Line" is definitely one of the best tracks on the album, so's "Grinf**ked" and "Hold Back The Day." The drums are done excellently and standout a lot more on this album. The speed of the title track shows that they haven't slowed down one bit. The album all throughout has a lot of variety and has done what most metal bands find difficult to do, use it creatively. Devildriver has truly shown the fury of their maker's hand.

First off, a little history lesson. Devildriver's singer, Dez Fafara, used to be the singer of Coal Chamber. Their music was pretty lame in my opinion. Dez started to get tired of the bands music and wanted to make it heavier. It didnt work out so well. So he left the band, and formed Devildriver. This is their second album. Very fast and very heavy, anyone who listens to metal should pick up this album. This album represents everything metal should be.

1. End Of The Line (7/10) - Pretty cool opening to the song, but not a good opening for the album. The begining is al right, but besides that, this is not such a great song.

2. Driving Down The Darkness (9/10) - This song is pretty good, but it just doesnt have that intensity that most of the other songs have. It is still really good, but I often skip it to get to a better song, then got back to it later.

3. Grinf**ked (6/10) - I have only heard this song two or three times. It never caught my attention or made me want to hear it again. It is just plain forgetable, and I dont think it really fits with the rest of the cd.

4. Hold Back The Day (10/10) - This might as well be track number one for me, because this is always the first song I listen to. This song is the whole reason I bought this cd. It starts with an awesome bass line, then it kicks in. The drums and guitar are lightning fast through the whole entire song, and Dez growls like a rabid bull dog. At the end I almost feel sick to my stomach hearing three screams howling at once. I have heard this song a million times, and I am still not sick of it.

5. Sin & Sacrifice (8/10) - Really good begigng to this song, but it just gets kind of boring when the singing starts. I ususally skip this song. When I do listen to it, I always listen to the whole thing, it kind of sticks to me. If it wasnt for the begining, I would never listen to this song.

6. Ripped Apart (6/10) - Very forgettable song. I never listen to it anymore.

7. Pale Horse Apocalypse (10/10) - I dont think this song is as good as Hold Back The Day, but It is one of my favorites. First of all, this song sounds different than their other ones, and that is for a good reason. It sounds kind of hollow to me, like its missing an instrament. But I still like the music and the lyrics. The best thing about this song is that it is the only one on the album with a guitar solo, and a really bad-ass one at that. Just for that I listen to it every time. Without the solo it would still be a really cool song.

8. Just Run (10/10) - This song immediatly stood out to me. The bigining has a cool sound with an awesome riff quietly echoing. Then Dez starts screaming and it gets heavy and loud. Half the song is his very long howls, the rest are really kickass riffs. My second favorite track on the album.

9. Impending Disaster (10/10) - This is another song that sounds just a little bit different than the others, in a way. It is still a very kickass song.

10. Bear Witness Unto (6/10) - Its not that bad of a song, but it is compared to the other songs on this cd.

11. Before The Hangman's Noose (10/10) - I really love this song, it is hard to say that I like Just Run better. This song is really awesome. I also really like the lyrics.

12. The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand (10/10) - I didnt like this song that much when I first got the cd, but now I love it. The music sounds great through the whole song. Just because it is the last song on the cd, dont forget about it. An excellent title track.

Well, thats my opinion of the cd.

I am very active in searching out good metal bands to add to my CD collection, but for some reason DevilDriver is a band whose level of fame simply does not do justice to their level of quality.

I heard "Hold Back The Day" and a few songs from DevilDriver's first album on Pandora.com, and I was pretty impressed, so I bought The Fury of Our Maker's Hand to see how the whole package fared.

I was not nearly expecting something as good as this. While the nearly hour long album can be a bit overwhelming at first (even to the seasoned listener), just a second listen immediately showed me how great this album is.

DevilDriver's latest album seems to be elusive as to how I can classify it; their last album was a bit thrashy, but this one is very unique while still pretty similar.

I love just about every song on this album, and the title track is one of my all-time favourites! The writing, the vocals, the musicianship, all of it is very well done and makes for an extremely enjoyable 52 minutes of metal!

Well, here goes nothing. I loved this cd, and I for those of you who don't know, the singer is from the presently extinct band- Coal Chamber. However, Devildriver seems to be heavier (vocally) than Coal Chamber ever was. If you don't like constant screaming without any "sweet breakdowns" (vocally), then I'd say you better not buy this one. For those looking for a good introductory "metal" album to kind of get into the genre, then maybe this one is not the best starter album for you. Try coal chamber or avenged sevenfold, slipknot, etc...Those guys are a little more "radio-friendly" to semi-metalhead ears. But for pre existing DD fans, I definitely recommend that you buy this album. Thier self titled attempt was good, but this is better. If you'd like to know more about why this is so, read on.

For one, the album has a lot of fast paced riffs and double bass stuff. The majority of this is heavy enough to make me happy, and is even heavier than their first album. There are also, new "melodic guitar" breakdowns placed startegically in the cd. Some, such as myself, will crave for more of these, but others will not. But to those who do not, let me tell you that they keep the album interesting. Without these soft sections, the albums would be one monotonous blob of metal. Most of the tracks sounds somewhat similar, and need these breakdowns to give it structure. As for the individual ongs, I wouldn't base your opinions on what iYunes or the sticker on the cd say. "Hold Back the Day" is not as good as it should be (as a hit), but songs suck as Sin and Sacrifice, or Before the Hangman's noose really kick ass. I dunno. This review is turning out pretty crappy huh? Im not telling you anything. Iam basically suggesting that you buy the album if you like DD at all, and you will not disappointed. To other people looking for a good starter metal album, stay away until you've learned to appreciate nonstop creaming. Wow thats the crappiest review Ive ever written. Sorry bout that.