DevilDriver: Strike and Kill

Three years after Dealing With Demons Vol. II, DevilDriver returns in a largely reshaped lineup. The departure of Mike Spreitzer, a central member for two decades, could have left the band fragile. But around Dez Fafara, the return of original bassist Jon Miller and the arrival of guitarist Gabe Mangold have allowed the group to rethink its writing methods. The motto: write for the DevilDriver brand. Strike And Kill thus fully embraces its nature as a frontal groove metal record, immediately identifiable and designed to hit hard without hesitation.

Back to Basics

‘Dig Your Own Grave’ wastes no time in laying out the program. A double bass drum launch at full tilt, massive riffs and abrasive vocals: the machine immediately snaps back into its routines. ‘Dead In The Water’ and ‘Sanctified In Scars’ extend this opening with more melodies and harmonies, carried by the duo formed by Alex Lee and Gabe Mangold. Without overturning the band’s vocabulary, the two guitarists bring enough texture to prevent a mere succession of crushing rhythms.

The title track concentrates this urge to reconnect with a primitive sense of urgency. Dez Fafara spits out lines crafted to be chanted back at live shows, while the rhythm section of Jon Miller and Davier Pérez maintains a constant pressure. On ‘Ride Or Die’, ‘Headed For The Fall’ or ‘Shut The Silence On’, DevilDriver recovers that blend of groove, thrash and melodic death metal that has fueled its identity for over twenty years. Everything is tight, dense and remarkably executed.

Some Shadows in the Onslaught

Yet Strike And Kill does not merely race forward. ‘In The Moonlight’ reveals Dez Fafara’s lighter and darker vocal registers, whose Gothic inflections cut through the surrounding violence. The experiment remains brief and perfectly integrated, not turning the track into an artificially stretched moment. Later on, the acoustic guitars of ‘Summoning Shadows’ introduce a more insidious tension, while ‘You’re Just A Ghost’ lends the album an almost epic breadth.

These variations prove valuable, because the thirteen tracks sometimes reveal the limits of such unwavering fidelity to the formula. ‘Never Coming Home’, ‘Oath Of Iron’ or ‘All Bets Are Off’ stay solid on their own, but leave fewer marks within a collection that extends beyond fifty minutes. The massive, uniform production further reinforces this feeling: nothing oversteps, yet few elements disrupt a finely tuned machine.

Solid Rather Than Essential

With Strike And Kill, DevilDriver primarily succeeds in reconstructing itself. The return of Jon Miller reconnects the group with its roots, while Gabe Mangold, Alex Lee and Davier Pérez inject fresh energy without diluting its identity. Dez Fafara himself seems particularly engaged, as convincing in his roars as in his occasional melodic forays.

The result is a robust, generous album designed for the live test. It reaffirms that DevilDriver remains a reliable force in American groove metal, capable of hammering through a catalog of riffs with almost insolent efficiency. But this mastery also marks its main limitation: lacking true peaks or longer-lasting risks, Strike And Kill reads more like a demonstration of craft than a future cornerstone of the band’s discography.

The DevilDriver – Strike And Kill review originally appeared on RockUrLife – a rock, metal, alternative, pop, punk, indie webzine.