DevilDriver - The Fury of Our Maker's Hand (2005)^{Release ID: 8877}

The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand was released in 2005, back in the time the dreaded nu metal was reigning with bands such as Korn and Slipknot. Upon listening to the second album by DevilDriver, it sounds much heavier than your average groove metal band, despite vocalist Dez Fafara forming this band fresh out of Coal Chamber still having some "Gateway" elements from that band. I've never really listened to this album until today, but now I see how much more extreme this album than any nu metal band...

Here's one thing I found out; This album was a big step up from their tame uninspired nu metal debut. It's as if they completely changed their sound, now taking parts of groove metal, metalcore, thrash metal, and melodeath, all in an exciting modern mix.

"End of the Line" is a great example of how much they've improved since their debut. However, some nu metal elements still appear on "Driving Down the Darkness". Then we have the more complex black-grind-ish "Grinf***ed" (yeah I censored the title) in pure progression. "Hold Back the Day" has modern melody to scream along and leads heavy enough to consider this band metal, hence why it's on this site!

"Sin & Sacrifice" is more ambitious but not truly incredible, sounding much less than the 5-minute epics made by other bands and slightly more towards bands that can be found in The Gateway clan. That song does foreshadow the band's later works though. Rolling with mighty punches is "Ripped Apart" ripping through melodeath especially during the last third of the song. "Pale Horse Apocalypse" is filled with sharp groove-thrash that can turn you into a mining knight with weapons such as sledgehammer and pickax. "Just Run" is just awful. Same with the impending disaster that is "Impending Disaster".

"Bear Witness Unto" is a genuine golden groove song where pleasant melodic leads sprinkle into the dry heavy riffs. "Before the Hangman’s Noose" is catchy in contrast to the aggression of earlier songs. The title track is a great finale that makes a good attempt to resurrect melodeath, a genre that starting fading out after the 90s. The lead melody creeps me nicer than a "peeping tomato" in the girls' shower room.

The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand is one of the heaviest and most technical modern metal albums, despite coming from a nu metal background, and the mix of brutal and catchy can rip your b*lls off like what the girls in the shower room would do to said "peeping tomato". This album might not be a keeper, but it has a lot of fun and fury!

Favorites: "End of the Line", "Hold Back the Day", "Ripped Apart", "Pale Horse Apocalypse", "Bear Witness Unto", "The Fury of Our Maker's Hand"