Devildriver
Posted by Vicki on 19.09.03
I was surprised to realise that the first Coal Chamber album was released in 1997, it felt much earlier than that as I recall dancing like a loon to 'My frustration' in a local clubs quasi-alternative night and trying to preserve the remaining threads of my long sleeve long after the life had fled.
Many people I know who professed that Coal Chamber were the greatest band ever have since denied ever liking the band. Perhaps this was prompted by the hostile press reaction for the latter albums but this seems a little fickle as the albums were not as bad as Roadrunner normally makes them.
'Loco' was the song that got Coal Chamber signed and acquired their initial fanbase. Before long they attracted kids seeking an alternative from the crap that Fear Factory were churning out. The twisted ice cream man combined with the feeling that the band were having fun and did not care ensured the album was one of my favourites for a very long time - possibly due to the Deadsy bit at the end of the album.
The wait for the second album was repeatedly prolonged - not normally a good sign, and on my first listen I was not overly impressed mostly due to 'Shock the monkey' which for some reason I detested. 'Dark days' has comparatively little publicity - par for the course for 'established' bands on Roadrunner's roster. Bizarrely for Roadrunner there was not even a digi-pack version released six months after the original release, which is possibly a sign that all was not well within the band.
Sure enough 'Giving the devil his due' - a collection of demos and remixes - was released along with the news that Coal Chamber had effectively split. In their wake was left Dez Fafara's new band, DevilDriver. DevilDriver were formerly called Deathride but forgot the check and see that about 79 other bands already had that name.
I received an album taster for the forthcoming album by DevilDriver this week and it is grim. The blurb reads "We are looking forward to bringing you something different, unique, something not heard before. This art has many influences, and we'd like to paint a very vivid picture in your mind. Influences such as black metal, death metal, and hardcore thrash, as well as strict heavy metal groove have all been put together into the picture." Unfortunately it sounds more like jock rock in the footsteps of Cold with desperation thrown in for good measure.
The name 'DevilDriver' stems from an old Italian witchcraft book Dez stumbled across, wherein the Etruscan witches use bells called DevilDrivers. These bells are used in spells for the purpose of driving away evil, which could explain why the music is so damn awful. Having conducted a rough poll of 25 people, no-one likes DevilDriver.
