DEVILS RUN – The Devil Dared Me To (2017)
This band was requested by one of you, and well worth a listen and promotion here as I haven’t seen it featured at any site; DEVILS RUN, and their last work “The Devil Dared Me To”.
Hailing from Las Vegas, Nevada, DEVILS RUN was formerly known as Taking Dawn, which released a stupendous album some time ago posted here.
Well, seems now Devils Run co-exists with Taking Dawn because under this banner band is recording a new album and have recently contributed a song to a video game soundtrack.
But let’s concentrate in Devils Run’s “The Devil Dared Me To”, which, btw, lyrically isn’t speaks about demons.
The music delivered by this 4-piece smash your ears with an explosive cocktail of ’80s inspired American hard rock with a modern metal-tinged assault of grooves & hooks, catchy enough to fry your brain and enough guitar solo wailing to knock Slash’s hat off.
At some point, Devils Run seem to have taken the kind of boring, watered down sound of the modern American Rock scene and turned it into a snarling beast of riffs and pounding drums.
Tracks like ‘S.O.S.’ run through a heavy amount blazing guitars that will ignite your speakers into flames. Throw-in a catchy chorus to boot and you have a kick ass tune, modern but with substance.
“Secrets” is equally raging with an opening hook that makes Devils Run feel like they’ve always been your favourite band and – goddammit – another catchy chorus. You can feel the love for this band reigniting itself as you listen to each song.
The song ‘The Devil Dared Me To’ finds Devils Run trying something different, this is a darker, groovy heavy song with a dense atmosphere in the Black Sabbath book of have to do it.
But with ‘Burn The Night Out’ the band slow down a bit the razor attack in a midtempo rhythm with clean guitars and more separated instrumentation. It’s the more melodic song on the record and one of my faves.
The guys crank the levels again with “SaviorSelf”, which is a certified headbang rager that will definitely make your ears bleed.
“C.R.A.Z.Y (So Serious?)” is a quite original number. It’s based on the anarchic excursions of Heath Ledger’s Joker (from Batman’s movie The Dark Knight), including a solo that might be based on Hans Zimmer’s score from The Dark Knight. The fact that no one’s written a metal or rock song like that yet is astounding.
More heaviness comes with ‘Shout With a Fist’ which features and anthemic chorus and a catchy melody, and we heard a mix of electric guitars and acoustic for the melodious semi-ballad ‘Forgiven, Forget’.
‘Smoke ‘Em If Ya Got ‘Em’ rocks again with an arena-ready feel, lots of harmony vocals, punchy bass lines and sharp riffs.
Devils Run rocks hard, sometimes in a take-no-prisoners way and face melting attack but always focused on melodies. All songs are plenty of blazing guitars, crushing drumming and catchy hooks, while the vocals – lead & backing – are precise and quite massive.
But the album’s real killer blow is the unrelenting finality every song seems to have; everyone on the band plays like every song is the last song they’ll ever play. You can hear the downright passion from the musicians on every note.
America still delivers interesting Rock music, Devils Run are among them and deserve major exposure.
Strongly Recommended
You’ve seen it first here, at 0dayrox
01 – The Devil Dared Me To
02 – S.O.S.
03 – Secrets
04 – C.R.A.Z.Y (So Serious)
05 – Burn the Night Out
06 – SaviorSelf
07 – Shout With a Fist
08 – Crown of Crows
09 – Forgiven, Forget
10 – Smoke ‘Em If Ya Got ‘Em
11 – Same Ol’ song
12 – C.R.A.Z.Y (So Serious) [different mix]
Chris Babbitt – lead and backing vocals, guitar
Andrew Cushing – bass, backing vocals
Steven Anderson – guitar, backing vocals
Dee “DP” Puente – drums
BUY IT !
www.amazon.com/Devil-Dared-Me-Devils-Run/dp/B077S64RQ1
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