DEVILDRIVER 'Strike and Kill'

DEVILDRIVER
Strike and Kill
Napalm Records

Before we get too deep into ‘Strike and Kill,’ I need to put my bias right on the table. I am a massive DEVILDRIVER, COAL CHAMBER, and DEZ FAFARA fan! I have loved this band for years. I have seen them live multiple times, and I still remember buying the self-titled DEVILDRIVER album and watching people argue when Dez talked about the band having death metal influences. Were they straight-up death metal? No. DEVILDRIVER have always lived more in that groove metal lane, but with enough death metal bite, thrash attitude, and pit-starting violence to keep the conversation interesting. To me, DEVILDRIVER has always been a powerhouse. No apologies. No soft landing. Just riffs, rage, and Dez sounding like he is trying to tear the stage apart with his throat. So, getting the chance to review ‘Strike and Kill,’ out July 10, 2026, made my old metalhead heart happy before I even hit play. The only question was whether my heart would still be happy by the end.

The album opens with “Dig Your Own Grave,” and right off the bat, this is the DEVILDRIVER I came for! The groove hits immediately, my head started moving, and the chorus landed fast. It is simple, mean, and built around the consequence-heavy message that runs through the whole record. Somebody crossed the line. Somebody grabbed a shovel. Now they get to live in the hole they made. The “let the chips fall” and “dig your own grave” energy hits like a shovel to the teeth. There is also a wicked-ass guitar solo that adds fire without killing the stomp.

 “Dead in the Water” keeps that momentum rolling. It had already been getting play while I was driving around, and sometimes that can wear a single out before the full album drops. This one did not. The melody still works, the chorus still lands, and it keeps me in that DEVILDRIVER, “let’s fucking go” mood. It has a strong survival push without turning into a clean motivational poster. It is about staying locked in when everything falls apart, turning pain into fuel, and refusing to fold when the ground gives way. That is where DEVILDRIVER hit the hardest! It does not sound like healing. It sounds like throwing your shoulder through a locked door and dealing with the bruises later.

Then “Sanctified in Scars” grabbed me by the throat. I sat with this one for about five listens in a row. The groove hits hard, but the blast beats shove the song over the edge. It feels like a back-alley baptism in blast beats. Dirty. Violent. Earned. The chorus works because the title feels like the whole point of the song, not just a cool phrase. DEVILDRIVER takes up scars, damage, and all that hell-dragged mileage and turns it into something almost ceremonial. Not holy. Not healed. Just carved into you and still swinging. When Dez drives home that the scars are self-made, that was one of the first big moments where I had to run it back and say, “Yeah, that’s the shit right there!” As soon as “‘Strike and Kill’” kicked in, my notes began with: “Holy hell, boys!” Around the two-minute mark, the chug kicks in and DEVILDRIVER lands in that sweet spot where groove metal stops being something you listen to and starts becoming a medical concern for anyone standing too close. The song comes in swinging with war-ready energy, but what hooked me was the image of grace walking beside venom. It sounds like betrayal dressed up nicely, right before everything gets violent. This one is going into the rinse-and-repeat pile. The groove is mean, the chorus hits, and the breakdown feels built for the pit. I can already see this song turning Brooklyn Bowl into a problem when DEVILDRIVER comes through Las Vegas.

The first real speed bump for me is “In the Moonlight.” Musically, I love it. The guitars are blistering, the aggression is there, and the band sounds locked in. The problem is the lyrical direction. I love Dez. I love DEVILDRIVER. But this one feels like it is trying to be dark, witchy, romantic, and mystical all at once, while some of the wording lands too simple for how mean the music feels. It may have been written for someone important, someone connected to witchcraft, black magic, or that darker spiritual space. I respect that. Personal songs matter. But sitting in the middle of ‘Strike and Kill,’ the lyrics feel closer to a gothic coloring book than the throat-punch energy the band is laying down underneath. 

Thankfully, “Ride or Die” gets things back on track fast! At this point, I started wondering if the ongoing theme was going to be another track, another banger, another reason my neck was going to file a complaint. I do not mind that one bit. It has the ‘forward-motion stomp,’ the ‘chant-ready structure,’ and the kind of chorus built for a live crowd to throw back at the stage. 

“Headed for the Fall” is another track that struggled to grab me. Is it bad? No. It has the groove, the chorus, the chug, and the familiar stomp. The lyrics stay in the betrayal-and-consequence lane, with double-cross imagery and trust turning into a weapon. It has the pieces. I just did not feel it as much.

“Shut the Silence On” grabs you before it fully gets moving. You know that feeling, when a track kicks in and your feet start moving before your brain catches up? Ordo you start playing air guitar like you have been in the band for 20 years, even though everyone knows damn well you cannot play that song? That is the pull this one has. Then the drums start working in, and suddenly you are air-drumming like DEVILDRIVER might call you any minute. Spoiler: they will not. Sit down, Lars. The verses have a pissed-off, trapped-in-the-walls energy, with pressure building around clenched fists, razor-tongued tension, and being locked into something you never asked for. The chorus is my only slight “eh” on the song. It fits, but it is not the part that hooked me. The movement sells it. 

Then comes “Never Coming Home,” and Dez, this part is directed right at you: play this fucking song live!! This one has immediate crowd-grab written all over it. The verse moves fast, the chorus is easy to lock into, and the whole thing feels built for a room full of DEVILDRIVER fans yelling it back with fists up! If they play this song at album speed and intensity, it will destroy the place. The track has the groove, the bite, and the chant-ready chorus that make a live song feel bigger than the recording.

The last stretch is where the album loses some momentum for me. “Summoning Shadows” almost feels connected to “In the Moonlight,” even if that was not the intent. Same pull towards the night. Same shadow-heavy atmosphere. Same feeling of darkness being less of an enemy and more of something you learn to live beside. I understand where the lyrics are going with unstable ground, finding your feet again, and remembering that darkness has always been your friend. It works on paper. I just do not like the song! 

Then “You’re Just a Ghost” comes in, and the momentum really falls out from under me. This song should work. The lyrics are right in the album’s lane: ghosts, bones, justice, reckoning, broken pacts, and burying what came before. But listening to it after “Summoning Shadows,” I felt like I went from riding in a speedboat to my kids rowing the boat. 

Thankfully, “Oath of Iron” brings the weight back. It is not my favorite song on the album, but it helps the record regain its footing and get back to the stomp that made the earlier stretch hit so hard. The song has that big, clenched-fist DEVILDRIVER energy, with fear, truth, pain, and endurance running through it. I can see this making the live set. Do I personally need it there? Maybe not. I would fight harder for “Never Coming Home.”

“All Bets Are Off” closes the album with one hell of a final swing! The second that intro flow kicked in, my head started moving. There is something in the vocal rhythm and delivery that gives off early 2000’s nu metal/groove metal energy but filtered through DEVILDRIVER’s current venom. It has bounce, bite, and pissed-off swagger. I read the lyrics while listening, then immediately ran it back, and it hit even harder the second time! This feels personal as hell. I do not know who pissed Dez off, and that is for the listener to decide, but whoever inspired this one clearly brought out something nasty. The closer leans into vengeance, backlash, whiplash, broken chains, and the final refusal to apologize. Vocally, this is one of the strongest endings the album could have asked for. Dez does not just bark through it. He flows through it. There is anger, timing, rhythm, and control in the delivery.

After listening to ‘Strike and Kill’ several times, I still say this as a massive DEVILDRIVER fan: this album is brutal. It is not a healing album. It is not a forgiveness album. It is not one of those records where the message feels like, “I grew, I learned, and I am better now.” 

No!

‘Strike and Kill’ feels more like: “This is not about making peace with the damage. This is DEVILDRIVER reaching back to that self-titled, “ die and die now” kind of violence; dragging it into 2026 with sharper teeth, fresh scars, and zero interest in forgiveness!”

Are there hiccups? Yeah. “In the Moonlight,” “Summoning Shadows,” and “You’re Just a Ghost” pulled me out of the momentum. But when this album hits, it hits hard! The breakdowns chug. The blast beats cut through. The grooves have that classic DEVILDRIVER stomp that makes your head move before your brain gets a vote. ‘Strike and Kill’ gives longtime fans plenty to chew on, and if someone somehow missed this band over the years, this is not a bad place to jump in and find out why they still matter. It is not perfect, but it is mean, focused, scared up, and not sorry.

4.5 Out Of 5.0 Battle-Jackets

Check out the album. Go witness them on fucking tour. I’ll see you there.