
DevilDriver aren't the only band to get exasperated with hotshot handicapped producer Jason Suecof in the studio. Chimaira got so frustrated with Suecof blowing off sessions and changing subjects six times a minute that they threw him into his swimming pool, wheelchair and all. But like Chimaira, who wound of creating one of the best albums of the year -- Resurrection -- with the demented Floridian, DevilDriver and Suecof were a dysfunctional marriage made in heavy metal heaven. Which doesn't mean they didn't nearly kill the man.
"We couldn't be more polar opposite, and I had to tell him to shut the f--- up so many times. I was ready to wring his throat" frontman Dez Fafara told MTVnews.com's Metal File. "We actually got into it about two or three times where he would criticize something and I would just be like, 'You suck, you've got no groove.' But the friction worked and we came out of it the best of friends. More importantly, he really captured this band, and now I feel like it would be hard to work with anyone else."
A brief listen to the new DevilDriver album, The Last Kind Words (out June 5) confirms Fafara's conviction that he and his bandmates are finally at the top of their game. Like the band's first two albums, 2003's eponymous debut and 2005's The Fury of Our Maker's Hand, the new disc combines brutal thrash and death metal with elements of nu-metal, but the songs are now more progressive, weaving in a new level of melodic variation and atmospheric flourishes.
"I think we knew we had to reach within ourselves as a team and pull something out that was really different," Fafara said. "Everyone totally put aside their egos and stepped up to the plate to do what needed to be done. In America right now, there's so much of that sing-songy metal going on, so we knew if we did something totally balls-out it was going to be well-received."
The title of the album comes from the lyrics to "Not all Who Wander are Lost," which pretty much conveys the singer's belief that people should live in the moment instead of dwelling on the misfortunes of the past. "The 'last kind words' could be 'f--- you' before complete annihilation," he explained. "For me, this album is about being motivated to stand up to the punishment of being a human and to have the character in you to go on when all people want to do is hold you down."
For the complete interview with DevilDriver and the rest of this week's metal news, check out MTV.com's Metal File.
And now, check out DevilDriver's video for "End of the Line":









