Devildriver - The Last Kind Words
There comes a time in most trend-hoppers time when the first trend they attached themselves to dies and they hop onto the next. This doesn’t just apply to teenagers but to musicians. Bullet for my Valentine, Atreyu, and Norma Jean all started out as rap/nu metal bands, but perhaps the most famous trend hopper of modern metal is Dez Fafara. Fafara made his name donning fishnet tights on his arms and a terrible gothic haircut fronting stereotypical nu metal band Coal Chamber. When the wheels came off that wagon, Fafara created a new band aimed at targeting the new trend in metal in an absolutely cynical fashion. With their Melodic death influenced metalcore sound, their boneheaded lyrics and the ubiquitously annoying Fafara, Devildriver seemed custom made to appeal to every “true metal” teenage knucklehead wanting to get into “the real heavy shit” in the most superficial fashion possible.
The one thing that strikes you about “The Last Kind Words” is how falsely perfect it sounds. It sounds like it was constructed by a committee to appeal to a certain audience. The chord progression and musical ingredients are tried and trusted to a level that sounds sterile and stale. Elements are taken from every obvious source and used in an exceedingly obvious way. Imagine the first band you formed with your mates in your teens. It was probably influenced by what can be called training wheels metal, (eg, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer etc) as that’s the stuff you knew and loved. Now imagine a bunch of guys with 10 years experience in music theory who know exactly what they are doing trying to do the same thing but with a modern “core” edge.
That might be a dream come true to a lot of metal fans, but it’s not mine. Metal, even accessible and commercially viable metal has to have a real dangerous edge to appeal to the discerning metal fan in even the slightest capacity. Metallica, Iron Maiden, Pantera and co took influences from bands that weren’t popular then and certainly aren’t popular now. The same can be said for Opeth, In Flames, Lamb of God, Shadows Fall etc whatever you may say about their current career choices. Devildriver are a lot heavier than the likes of Bullet for my Valentine and Avenged Sevenfold but they are just as unthreatening and safe. Just like Coal Chamber are barely remembered today, I doubt Devildriver for all their popularity will be remembered after they split up. Just like Coal Chamber this shit is just too tame and teen friendly to be long lasting.