Album Review: Devildriver – Dealing With Demons Vol. II (Napalm Records)

Iconic groove metal leaders Devildriver will release their new album and second part of their Dealing With Demons saga on May 12, 2023, via Napalm Records. Dealing With Demons Vol. II represents not only the most vicious of the two records, but also the darkest recesses of iconic frontman Dez Fafara’s psyche and the final purging of his demons that have long haunted the band’s music.

We’ve been waiting a long time for this, but the wait is finally over. A new Devildriver album, their tenth overall, and the second volume of the Dealing With Demons story. Featuring 9 tracks of groove metal gold that sees the group digging into their past but continuing to look to the future too. Twenty years into their careers, Devildriver have never sounded as necessary as they do here.

Coming out of the blocks with a thumping amount of groove, I Have No Pity finds Devildriver in a vigorous mood. The guitars and drums are blistering but the icon that is Dez Fafara sounds vicious on vocals. It’s an instant head-banger and will delight long-term fans of this band.

That was the appetiser though and Mantra sees the band increase the tempo (the drums are so brutal) and deliver pitting-inducing mayhem. Before making the face automatically gurn and grimace with the crunching heaviness of Nothing Lasts Forever. A track with a touch of melody in the guitars, but mightily memorable for its immense chorus.

If you think Devildriver are on form with those first few tracks, you’ve not heard anything yet. A darker, more sinister sound escapes from the riffy Summoning, Devildriver then take some props from the blacker side of metal with Through the Depths, and cause carnage with the ruthless energy of Bloodbath. The middle portion of the album is a glorious combination of the Devildriver of old and one that is adapting with the times to find what works for them now. All of which is enhanced by the daring and believable honesty that encapsulates the entire record.

Electrifying and emphatic, it’s a hefty listen right through the very end. Devildriver finding new reserves of groove to make the listener bang their head without much care on It’s a Hard Truth and If Blood is Life. Before the purge of inner demons completes with This Relationship, Broken. A finale befitting of such a statement and an album that proves once and for all that Devildriver are the kings of groove metal.

Devildriver – Dealing With Demons Vol. II Track Listing:

1. I Have No Pity
2. Mantra
3. Nothing Lasts Forever
4. Summoning
5. Through the Depths
6. Bloodbath
7. It’s a Hard Truth
8. If Blood is Life
9. This Relationship, Broken

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