DevilDriver is Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber fame's metal venture. While on tour with Coal Chamber, Phil Anselmo used to send him cassette tapes of extreme metal bands. Dez would get offstage, sit on the bus, and listen to bands like Emperor... and so he decided he needed to sell his soul to metal. He found the contract through a napkin given to him by one of his future band mates with a note scribbled on it asking if he would like to jam sometime.

The first thing you hear when you play the CD is fast guitar riff followed by Dez screaming like he has been doing metal all his life. "Do what thou wilt - Shall be the whole of the law" Dez has definitely drifted away from the kooky lyrics of Coal Chamber to lyrics Anton LaVey would be proud of. The lyrics although typically metal and evil, seem to deal with Dez's personal life a lot. The turmoil of touring with life on the road with maybe a bit of bitterness from the end of his Coal Chamber days can be heard in songs like "Nothing's Wrong" and "Die (and Die Now!)"

The music itself is filled with many different elements. Black metal sounding fast picking on the guitars, low rumbling bass, pounding drums, deep watery vocals, the sound generated is like a fusion of black metal, death metal, and nu-metal. Many accuse this album as simply being nu-metal and nothing more. However, if you give it a good listen, you can really tell the old school metal roots the members of DevilDriver have. The whole album flows like a fast-paced circle pit, it is music you cannot help but want to thrash out and destroy something to. The song that grabs me the most is "I Dreamed I Died", filled with a catchy riffs and chorus, it just takes you for a ride through hell. The song is about Dez dreaming that he died, and meeting saint up at the gates of heaven who informs him that his dark way of life is not just acceptable but necessary and his purpose is to destroy all or nothing. He must wait for "the call" and then 'bury them all".

All in all the album is filled with dark satanic lyrics that make you wonder if Dez has been hanging out with Danzig too much lately, but music that sounds like his band is from the depths of metal hell. It is solid and fast paced all the way through the end, leaving you almost exhausted by the time you get it out of your stereo. It is a good start for DevilDriver; they have established themselves as being capable of heaviness and builds anticipation for the music yet to come.