The guitars aren’t a mere wall of sound, you have good definition which is always a bonus. The production is very clear which allows the music to stay heavy without becoming uncomfortable. The guitar solos have a different feel to all of the band’s previous albums, they seem to have moved to a more Judas Priest sound, which helps the album have a unique identity in their catalogue. The opening few songs are what you’d expect the band to make at this stage and things diverge from the formula more and more towards the albums end. Unlike some albums which seem to run out of steam half way through, ‘Beast,’ keeps getting better and better, unleashing its unique characteristics more and more as the album goes on, almost easing you into the changes. For example, moments in ‘Blur,’ wouldn’t be out of place on The Great Southern Trendkill and `Black Soul Choir,’ almost sounds like a radio single for the first couple of minutes and has a different feel to anything the band have done yet for the last few. Luckily, while `Beast,’ is definitely hard and aggressive it is by no means a basic pounding assault devoid of variety. Every DevilDriver album brings a little something new to the band’s overall style and they aren’t the sort of band you could ever accuse of making the same album over and over again.ĭevil Driver’s fifth studio album `Beast,’ is no exception, although you may be forgiven for fearing so had you read any of the pre-release press which seemed to threaten a very one dimensional and relentless album.