  
Devildriver are one the all time greats in terms
of sheer aggression, technicality, speed and with
the fronting voice of the devils incarnate Dez
Fafara they have been absolutely unstoppable since
they first emerged on the scene. In my personal
opinion, their debut full length Devildriver and
follow up album Fury of Our Makers Hands are easily
2 of the greatest metal albums ever released and
my teenage years were taken up mostly by spinning
both of those records; the next one along The
Last Kind Words was still a great success but
with me made much less of an impact, then Pray
For Villains and Beast both had some really great
songs on there but on the whole they were just
lesser albums in the bands already established
career. 2013 has arrived, we have a new album
and I am excited as from its name and cover design,
I am expecting an absolute brute of a record.
“Oath of the Abyss”; wow, I sit in
awe as it is everything that Devildriver are,
all of the powerful elements are in play and it
unlike the past 2 albums has that certain devil
factor that I haven’t felt properly for
a few years. I must say though I can see what
angle they were trying to head on with after the
first 2, they’ve been trying to really push
the technicality in their sound with some success
but I feel what is on show here really is their
defining achievement in terms of structure and
diversity; “Ruthless”, “Curses
And Epitaphs” and “Gutted” are
the crown jewels in that regard but alongside
that we have those who retain the early 00’s
traits like “Desperate times”, “Tripping
Over Tombstones” and “Haunting Refrain”
which can blow out your sphincter after 10 second
assault let alone what the other 3 minutes of
each track might do.
I feel like at last I can be excited by Devildriver
again, I have listened to them minimally since
the release of Beast but now with Winter Kills
I feel like I’m being sucked back in again
with all of these blistering new songs. The beast
is back and it’s more ferocious than ever,
that’s something we can all be excited about
I just hope they roll this momentum overseas into
Europe so I can see it live.
4.5/5
Review by James Webb
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