Nu-metal came in for a lot of stick even at its zenith, and few bands attracted more vitriol than Coal Chamber, chiefly for their perceived resemblance to scene leaders Korn. They were an effective unit though, when their members weren’t squabbling among themselves or disappearing to have babies, and in "Loco" they had at least one song guaranteed to kick off a rock disco moshpit.
As indicated, the band were frequently their own adversaries as much as the rock press, and with their future once again sketchy, frontman Dez Farfara has taken the opportunity to pursue the inevitable side-project. Sensing the winds of change within rock, DEVIL DRIVER are a more old school affair.
Opener "Nothing’s Wrong" rampages in with a Slayer-style finger-blistering guitar riff and double bass-drum pedals that hammer away like speed-addicted woodpeckers.
The single "I Could Care Less" flirts casually with melody, while "Die (And Die Now)" finds Farfara squealing like Dani Filth, hollering a repeated “I wish you were dead” just in case anyone hadn’t got the message by the title alone.
"I Dreamed I Died" – please get over this death thing, fellas, it isn’t big or clever – hits a thudding nu-metal dance rhythm with Farfara barking an almost-rap delivery over the top. It’s the track most like Coal Chamber and, unfortunately for their attempts to break fresh ground, may be one of the album’s best. Although there are no truly duff moments there are equally few changes of pace or style, and when the final martial beats of "Devil’s Son" have faded at the album’s close there may be a faint feeling of exhaustion on the listener’s part.
|
"Devil Driver", then, is perhaps not quite the project to arrest the death spiral of nu-metal, but this is unlikely to be the band’s motivation, and anyway, this apparent demise of the genre is merely one of music’s periodic cycles of change rather than anything more terminal. For their fans, meanwhile, if Coal Chamber are to persevere, then Devil Driver make for an effective digression.
|
