DevilDriver
Strike And Kill Out Now Through Napalm Records
First thing I feel the need to say about this album is… bravo gentlemen!
You’ve taken DevilDriver, cranked it up a few more notches with the genius recruiting on guitars with tech death metal maestros Alex Lee in 2022 and Gabe Mangold last year in 2025, as well as Davier Perez obliterating the drums, and the return of original bass player Jon Miller, also in 2022, has turned DevilDriver into a melodic death metal force to be reckoned with on the new album Strike And Kill.
Don’t get me wrong, early DevilDriver was my jam back in the day. The Fury Of Our Maker’s Hand. The Last Kind Words. Brilliance, especially in the metal climate back then.
I was fortunate enough to see DevilDriver in what I would call their prime, live and wrecking shit back in the late 2000s and early 2010s, and goddamn it was a lesson in emitting energy from a stage so fierce it would tear your skin from its very bones.
And I hear that again on Strike And Kill, a formidable vivacity letting all who listen to it know one thing.
DevilDriver isn’t finished with you yet.
They’re not going to retreat into the long goodnight. Quite the opposite. They’re just getting started. This ride ain’t over yet, not by a long shot, and that brings a smile to this old metalhead’s face.
The sheer voracity of Strike And Kill is so dynamic and atmospheric, it sucks you in and keeps you listening from the first note to the last kind word. See what I did there.
Ferocious from the start, upon my first listen, I began to wonder if there would be any filler in this killer album, and by song 13, my question was emphatically answered.
NOPE!
Guitars; magnifico!
Groove laden, technical extreme melodic metal from two of the finest guitarists to ever get to work together in Alex Lee and Gabe Mangold. They bring chaos to the cosmos, executing track after track of pure, unprecedented fucking metal gold to a band that needed fresh blood on guitar and drums moving forward.
Speaking of the drummer, Davier Perez is a fucking superstar.
He puts the “Driver” in DevilDriver, pulverising the kit in a display of unbridled incredulity. I swear, Davier is secretly an octopus! Don’t quote me, it’s just a theory, but you’ve got to agree, his drumming is up there with the best drummers in the world right now.
Just my opinion, but I believe it to be a valid one.
What impresses me about Strike And Kill is its utter unrelenting heaviness. I believe this is their heaviest album to date, and that’s what I was hoping to hear from DevilDriver this time around, and incredibly, they’ve pulled it off.
A bone shaking, ear rattling masterpiece that will live on in infamy as DevilDriver’s magnum opus. Powerful, dominant and relentless from start to finish.
Not a single shit song.
No fucking around.
Just an all out assault on the senses.
DevilDriver is reborn. DevilDriver is heavier than ever than I can ever remember, and from a personal point of view, it’s what I’ve wanted from DevilDriver since The Last Kind Words, and I couldn’t be happier.
Strike And Kill is exactly what this album does. It strikes you like a slap in the face and then it fucking kills with an extreme melodic metal that will be remembered for decades to come.
Once again, to Dez and the boys, bravo, and thank you for tearing down the walls and rebuilding DevilDriver into an unstoppable machine.
Strike And Kill is a mammoth effort and one that will go down in history as one of the all time best albums, period.
Brilliance, DevilDriver be thy name.
Strike And Kill Out Now
New album Strike And Kill is out now via Napalm Records.
Order now:
https://lnk.to/DevilDriver-StrikeAndKill/napalmmrecords
DEVILDRIVER Are:
Dez Fafara – Vocals
Davier Ortega Perez – Drums
Jon Miller – Bass
Alex Lee – Guitar
Gabe Mangold – Guitar
DEVILDRIVER Online:
