The Devastated is a band that I, admittedly, don’t know a whole lot about. I know that some of their members used to be in Oblige and Impending Doom and that they were in the running to open last year’s Thrash and Burn tour. I had heard that The Devastated was incredibly heavy, so I decided to give their newest album, Devil’s Messenger, a spin.
The first thing I noticed about Devil’s Messenger was the heaviness. It’s not the heaviest album ever recorded, but it will undeniably appeal to a lot of fans. Furthermore, this heaviness will most likely be the selling point for many people, despite the fact that the music itself isn’t anything that hasn’t been heard before.
Before I delve into what I think is wrong with this album, I’m going to focus on the most positive aspect: the vocals. While it may not be for everyone, vocalist Greg Wilburn has a pretty distinct vocal style. Wilburn manages to stand out in a sea of mediocre deathcore vocalists by not trying to imitate a more successful vocalist and for this, I give him credit. His high screams sound somewhat scratchy, but I feel that they work rather well for the music.
The instrumentation found on Devil’s Messenger is, to put it bluntly, boring. It’s been done by plenty of The Devastated’s predecessors. Furthermore, the music gets very repetitive. Combine that with a 47-minute run-time and the listener is most likely going to get bored. The heaviness that I discussed before is undeniable, but it’s not enough to salvage Devil’s Messenger from the depths of mediocrity. Despite the fact that the music is repetitive, there will undoubtedly be plenty of people that adore The Devastated and Devil’s Messenger simply for the fact that they are heavy.
There were times when I was listening to Devil’s Messenger when I was actually enjoying what I was hearing, but that didn’t completely alleviate the feeling of boredom. At its core, Devil’s Messenger is an album with good vocal delivery, but marred by boring and repetitive instrumentation. Despite being somewhat monotonous, the heaviness will most likely make it worth listening to for plenty of fans. If you dig mindless heaviness or just need something to throw down to in your bedroom, Devil’s Messenger might be for you.
