Review Summary: New and fresh sound by Devildriver, but not the new and fresh sound I was hoping for
DevilDriver was my band to finally break trough in 2010. I really hoped that their new album ‘’Pray for Villains’’ would be their best album to date, but that prediction was clearly wrong. Don’t get me wrong, DevilDriver has produced great albums, but Pray for Villains just didn’t live up to my expectations.
The album, however, starts with a bang. Pray for Villains is an awesome songs. I remember listening to this album for the first time and being amazed by the insane drumming. I got really excited since this was just the beginning, thinking that my predictions were right about DevilDriver and them reaching a legendary status. How wrong could I be.
DevilDriver started off with their amazing self-titled album, containing some remarkable songs like ‘’Meet the Wretched’’ and ‘’Devils’ Son’’. Combining all sorts of different metal, the later albums were even better. DevilDriver quickly became a big band that expanded their fan base at a really fast pace. Their hard work eventually paid off with their amazing live performances at Download Festival and eventually the world record for the biggest circle-pit ever, there are various films on internet of it. These guys were not to be messed with.
‘’Pray for Villains’’ continues with some happy, upbeat songs. The reason why I use happy here, is not because of the doomy screaming but because of the guitar riffs. Listening to DevilDriver makes me happy and it gets my adrenaline pumping, especially with the amazing drumming on the background. ‘’Pure Sincerity’’ and ‘’Fate stepped’’ in are some good songs, just what you would expect from DevilDriver. But Devildriver already proved that they could play this type of music very well, but I expected them to do just a little bit more.
And as the album goes on, I started to dislike the songs more and more. ‘’Back with a vengeance’’ felt a little unorganized. Some parts of the songs are really upbeat but other parts are kind of slow paced, and this combination felt a bit weird. It would’ve been better if they made separate songs, each having its own pace. Some songs lived up to my expectations, but some other songs were filled with anti-climaxes. Just as I was starting to like the song, the singer decided to sing something completely different than in the beginning of the song, that left me a bit confused thinking: ‘’Hey, don’t do that! It was just getting awesome!’’
So my main complain about this album is the lack of fast riffs. I believe that DevilDrivers’ best songs are those that are fast paced. Instrumental-wise DevilDriver is good to go, the quality and precision of the guitars is superb and the drumming is just way above excellent. So DevilDriver should be full of win, on paper, but I feel that DevilDriver went a bit too off topic with this album, experimenting just a little too much and leaving the brutal DevilDriver sound behind them. The singing sometimes did not fit the song right, with ‘’It’s in the card’’ being my main example of this. The singing was a bit out of place and made me feel like I was listening to a heavy-metal U2 song, but then not executed in the right way.
To make a long story short, ‘’Pray for Villains’’ ended up being a bit of a disappointment, instead of being my album of 2009. While some songs are really good and well-structured some others are a complete mess. The album needs more structure and that is mainly what I miss. I really hope that DevilDrivers next album will be way better than this one, now that I have lowered my expectations. I really hope DevilDriver can get back on track to really impress me.
Recommended Songs: Pray for Villains, Fate stepped in, Pure sincerity
