DevilDriver

DevilDriver is a groove metal band from Santa Barbara, United States, active since 2003. The group is led by Dez Fafara, formerly of Coal Chamber, and forms around his move away from the more mainstream direction he felt his previous band was taking. Fafara starts the project after Coal Chamber ends, and DevilDriver becomes his main musical focus.

Style and line-up

The band is associated with groove metal, heavy metal, metal, metalcore and thrash metal. Its early recorded line-up includes Dez Fafara on vocals, Mike Spreitzer and Jeff Kendrick on guitars, Jon Miller on bass and John Boecklin on drums. Other members listed across the group’s history include Michael Spreitzer, Neal Tiemann, Austin D’Amond, Ashes, Alex Lee, Gabe Mangold and Christopher Towning.

Recordings and development

DevilDriver signs to Roadrunner Records for its debut album, DevilDriver, which appears in 2003. The follow-up, The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand, arrives in 2005 and is produced by Colin Richardson. That album is described as a more collaborative record than the debut, with the songs built riff by riff by Kendrick, Spreitzer, Miller and Boecklin, while Fafara focuses on vocals and lyrics. Tracks mentioned from the album include “End of the Line”, “Driving Down the Darkness”, “Sin & Sacrifice” and “Hold Back the Day”.

DevilDriver reissues The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand in a special edition with three additional studio tracks, three live recordings and a DVD of the band’s music videos to that point. The Last Kind Words, the third studio album, appears in 2007 and reaches number 48 on the US Billboard 200, selling about 14,000 copies in its first week.

Tours and later albums

The band tours widely in support of The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand, including shows in the United States, Europe and Australia while supporting Fear Factory, as well as its first headlining run, the Burning Daylight Tour. The discography also includes Pray for Villains (2009), Beast (2011), Winter Kills (2013) and Trust No One (2016).

Context

The name DevilDriver refers to a term for bells used by witches, especially in Italian tradition, to drive away evil. Fafara frames the project as a heavier, darker outlet for the metal influences he wants to use, and describes the band’s sound as its own mix of melody, hooks, solos, grind and groove.