ALBUM REVIEW: STRIKE AND KILL BY DEVILDRIVER
Reviewed by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Release date 10 July 2026
With their 11th album ‘Strike And Kill’, Californian band DevilDriver delivers the huge guitar solos, pulsing bassline rhythms and rapid drum beats with the guttural vocals cutting through their sonic landscape. And like a snake strike, the band bring a brutal energy with these nu-metal tracks. But there is a throwback in the groove, with a 1970s sound to the melodic guitar riffs that brings a hit of nostalgia in this very straight heavy metal album. The tight 13 tracks focus on complex musicianship and thick sonic textures and are a return to form for DevilDriver.
The opening track ‘Dig Your Own Grave’ is a burst of humour and rage. But it is the virtuoso guitar work of Alex Lee and Gabe Mangold that gives the track that distinctive sound as the song hits like blunt force trauma. It is followed by the “You’re f#@king dead” refrain in ‘Dead In The Water’ that continues the blast beats and huge guitar solos and harmonic riffs. Lead vocalist Dez Fafara roars and spits as he leans into positivity “to stay the course” as experience is not “wasted” in the narrative tale of adversity. Life might feel like “another day, another dollar” as “the ground gives way”, but the drums blast and the guitars deliver the melodic swirl of the track, which is hopeful.
The industrial metal of ‘Sanctified In Scars’ with its complex sonic textures and swift drumming of Davier Ortega Perez is a standout. The track just pounces and bounces with that creepy vocal interwoven through the aggression. And, this dynamic rhythm continues in ‘Strike and Kill’ as the drummer underpins the brilliant technical guitar work and serves as a warning about what you sow is what you will get “caught in the crossfire”. She “carries grief like a firefly” as ‘In The Moonlight’ has a lovely synth and acoustic start before the band crashes in over the top. ‘Never Coming Home’ has a harder sound but has the emotional hit once you get over the drum assault and “the wicked desire”. These two tracks are blessed with amazing drumming, the brutal basslines of Jon Miller, and elegant guitar melodies under their hard exterior.
‘Ride Or Die’ has a forceful hit – like hitting a sonic wall of drums and bass with metal pulses and spit in the vocals. The off-kilter beats and sonic soundscape that is ‘Headed For The Fall’ follows and it’s hard as we “are headed to the cross”. Then, thrash is highlighted on ‘Shut The Silence On’ and it’s fast and furious. The beautiful acoustic work, and that echo, with the distorted clean singing about taking on the “rocky terrain” of life as the listener is urged to remember “that darkness is your friend” in‘S ummoning Shadows’ is an album highlight. It’s such a great track!
The track ‘You’re Just A Ghost’ has a spooky electric guitar riff and light vocals until the band’s heaviness crashes back down. ‘Oath Of Iron’ takes us back to a groovy thrash sound and it’s full speed ahead. It’s a whiplash strike. The album closes out with the dark and moody guitar melody of ‘All Bets Are Off’ and before its thumping bassline and huge drums bring in a calamitous riot with the dark vocal fry about “the thorn in the side” as the “flames get higher and higher”.
DevilDriver has delivered a sonic, full-on, hit you in the face, “no stone unturned”, album that takes listeners on a journey about how poor decisions can lead to life changing events that you didn’t expect. So, think carefully before your decisions can fuck someone else and you “dig your own grave”. Impressive!
