Pray For Villains

Those who remember Dez Farara's nü-metal band, Coal Chamber, probably have a tarnished opinion of his latest group, DevilDriver. But with DD's fourth album, Pray For Villains, any nü grudges against Farara need to be put to rest. Just as Machine Head's The Blackening laid waste to their unfortunate late-'90s nü-rap records, Pray For Villains is a strong enough metal record to cancel Farara's most embarrassing moments (let's just stick "Loco" atop that list). Here, Farara and the DevilDriver crew gut-punch the listener with a storming title track and follow with a dozen more songs that rival Slipknot and Machine Head in the groove-metal echelon. It's not quite as epic or life affirming as Machine Head's latest, but it's pretty damn close.