Release Date: 10th July 2026
Label: Napalm Records
Clearing the clouds over California with their trademark brutality, our groove driven death-metallers DevilDriver charge headstrong into the second decade of their career, with their eleventh full-length studio album Strike And Kill.
With a critically acclaimed reputation at stake (their previous double album Dealing with Demons was internationally revered, with Vol.1 boasting a fifteen week stretch holding the number one position at Metal Radio), these trailblazers from across the pond have clearly returned energised and ravenous.
Ever fronted by vocalist Dez Farfara, DevilDriver have seemingly unlocked a newfound level of chemistry in this fairly recent iteration of the group (featuring the return of founding bassist Jon Miller), and have spared no expense in the delivery of their incendiary technicality. The riffs are riffing, the double kick drums hits like a call to arms, and the guitar solos bite back like a shot of whisky. Combining this with the years of experience found throughout the lineup, fans are sure to welcome this tribute to legacy.
Lead single and album opener ‘Dig Your Own Grave’ wastes no time in setting the pace for this latest offering, hitting the ground running with breakneck guitar licks (and drums to match), lightening fast shredding, and an intoxicatingly woozy breakdown for good measure.
This swiftly bleeds into the ‘Dead in the Water’, a soon to be head-banging staple of their set list that affirms the groups dedication with chants of “staying the course”, complete with blast beats and duelling guitar solos.
While ‘Sanctified in Scars’ shows us how psychosocial might have sounded had it been released on Iowa, (a juggernaut of a track packed with tremolo rhythms, modulating textures and pinch harmonic laden chugs), ‘Ride or Die’ relentlessly keeps up the momentum with face melting dive-bombs and blistering drum fills.
‘Summoning Shadows’ brings welcome respite as a (partially) acoustic interlude, allowing Farfara a brief chance to showcase his harmonies before punching things back up into the stratosphere, where ‘Oath of Iron’ parades some more sludgy elements to accompany the predominantly tech-death heavy influence found throughout this album. Closing out the record is the colossal diatribe ‘All Bets Are Off’, that finds Farfara tantamount to his barks of “leaving no stone unturned”, shifting from heavy to unstoppable in a neat four and a half minutes.
Strike And Kill, much like its namesake, takes no prisoners. A visceral display of modern melo-death, thrash, and good old fashioned American heavy metal to honour their bloodthirsty dedication to the scene.
FFO: Machine Head / Coal Chamber / Chimaira
Recommended Track: Dig Your Own Grave