What a time to be alive; 2023 is off to a decent start, but we are just getting started. As April showers start to turn into May flowers, the music industry is starting to bloom, highlighting problem areas while also protecting the core values it was built on. Look no further than California groove metal legends, DevilDriver, unleashing themselves in a fury with the epic conclusion to their “Dealing with Demons” double album. It’s been a few years, but vocalist Dez Farfara feels like they never left.
“It’s been pretty cool. Literally stepping out of the shadows after three years and watching this successful tour, watching the [new] song get well received, it’s nothing but a pleasure as an artist, to be honest with you.”
Dealing with Demons Vol. II, out May 12th via Napalm Records, expertly puts an exclamation point on the entire double album, pushing the envelope in many different facets while also holding tight to the groove metal foundations the band has created. Released about three years apart, due to, in part, the COVID-19 pandemic and health issues for Farfara, it’s all finally come together, and they couldn’t be prouder.
“I’m getting older later in life. I like to make brave moves and I like to attempt things. What’s the next cliff I would like to jump off? A little higher than most people; in your career, you’ve got to make a double record. You’ve got to do it once in your life and it was the appropriate time to do so. We got a lot of great material, we had everybody really writing over the amount of material that they would normally write. I said, ‘Okay, this is the perfect timing’ and just so happens, I have a label that supports what I do wholeheartedly.”
Topically, both the volumes cover the final purging of the band’s demons from throughout their career, with volume two getting a little bit deeper, touching aspects such as dealing with death, trust and decision uncertainty. It’s all in an effort for the listeners to connect the music because according to Farfara, “It doesn’t matter who you are, you’re still going to go through hard times in life.” The group also pushed the envelope sonically, flirting with new and bold ideas circling the writing process.
“I think there was a lot of changes within the band, when it came to how we wanted to write what we wanted to and I just said to everybody, ‘do what you want to do and let’s put our best foot forward’ on something that’s unique and definitely, the players came up with it.”
The band has been a mainstay for a few decades now and they are noticing on their more recent runs, a lot of their fanbase is getting younger, signaling a pass down of the music from generation to generation considering most of the original fans are in their 40s now. The band hadn’t toured in three years and had just finished the first leg of a successful co-headlining tour with Cradle of Filth. To make it even better, they debuted an extremely well received song “Through the Depths” to the fans.
