Album Review: Devil You Know - 'They Bleed Red'

The word ‘supergroup’ gets thrown around a lot these days, and when band members hint at working with their peers or their heroes, fans around the world open the floodgates and gush over these would-be groups that in all honesty, we’ll probably never hear any material from for years, if ever. Yet that wasn’t the case with Devil You Know when they formed. Made up of former Killswitch Engage singer, Howard Jones, All Shall Perish guitarist Francesco Artusato, ex-Fear Factory drummer John Sankey, and Bleeding Through bassist Ryan Wombacher (which feels like a supergroup to this reviewer), they are now on their second album despite only being a band for about three years.

‘They Bleed Red’ will indeed help the band grow even larger in size, just like their debut ‘The Beauty In Destruction’, which helped them sky rocket off the ground faster than you can say 'Get Schwifty!' This new record is not only a far superior album to their debut effort, which was received as well as a cure for polio was, but it’s also superior to the past two Killswitch records, which were both "generally" received somewhat poorly by fans, among one of those albums being Jones’ last ever outing with KSE.

All up, this is a very consistent record from the word go, with the fast and punishing ‘Consume The Damned’ to the melodic and soaring finale, 'Broken By The Cold’. It's all damn-good listening, just not quite as dense or as demanding as say, the new Deafheaven album (not that I'm dissing it or anything, it's a mad record), nor is it as simple or as digestible as say, a Black Veil Brides or Stone Sour album.

Now, with that all being said, if you dig Killswitch Engage them this band is DEFINITELY for you, and it'll probably scratch that itch of yours for their next record. But that's also the biggest criticism of this full-length - it just sounds A LOT like Jones's last band, albeit with the four distinct personalities of each member being way more prominent (Sankey's drumming for instance, is way more orientated to heavier styles of metal). So yes, one listen to a Devil You Know song will reveal that they sound a hell of a lot like Killswitch Engage and a whole host of other turn of the century metalcore/melodic metal bands. Yet despite the similarities between these guys and oh so many others, their song-writing is really on point. It's this point that keeps their heads just above the water filled with bands that look and sound alike. The breakdowns and the heavier, the faster sections don't feel shoe-horned in because the band wanted to see some crowd action, and the melodic hooks are all in the right places to make each of these the songs memorable and not because they just needed a sing-along.

After only three years, one album, and despite sounding a little too much like all projects featuring Adam Dutkiewicz and Jesse Leech (Killswitch Engage and Times Of Grace), Devil You Know are going to be on the way up even more now. With 'They Bleed Red', you've got a pretty solid album on your hands, and you just know that this new shit's going to be pretty good at Soundwave next year. Sure, this is not the most original metal album, but it’s a damn good one, and you could probably do a lot worse. Considering that BrokenCyde are back together, you really could do a lot worse.

1. Consume The Damned

2. The Way We Die

3. Your Last Breath

4. Stay Of Execution

5. Break The Ties

6. Shattered Silence

7. Let The Pain Take Hold

8. Master Of None

9. Searching For The Sun

10. How The End Shall Be

11. Broken By The Cold