Devil You Know – “They Bleed Red” [Album Review]

Devil You Know, the band led by former Killswitch Engage throat Howard Jones, showed a lot of promise on their debut The Beauty Of Destruction. It was a solid if unspectacular return for Jones following his controversial departure from the metalcore titans. Having got back on the saddle, so to speak, with The Beauty Of Destruction, this is an important album for Devil You Know and, judging by the crushing display of modern metal that is opener “Consume The Damned,” Devil You Know have really locked together to become something rather formidable.

Of course it doesn’t reinvent the wheel at any point, but both Killswitch fans as well as fans of modern heavy metal in general will find plenty on here to get excited about. Blending crushing blasts of heaviness with soaring melodies, tracks like “Your Last Breath” and “Master Of None” see both Jones and his bandmates at the top of their game. Precise, intricate solos bleed into enormous banks of crunchy grooves while Jones’ vocals switch effortlessly between throaty roars and room filling melodies.

On the subject of those melodies, even when the album takes a more radio-friendly direction on “Let The Pain Take Hold,” Jones handles the cleaner vocals with flawless ability. Having said that, hearing the band lock together for the mammoth “How The End Shall Be” towards the end of the album, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the group are at their best when they’re throwing out bone-crunching blasts of modern metal.

When The Beauty Of Destruction marked Jones’ return, fans of the frontman (including myself) unsurprisingly questioned whether he could replicate the success he had during his career with Killswitch Engage. However, with the release of They Bleed Red, both Jones and Devil You Know have displayed that they are so much more than just “that band featuring Howard Jones from Killswitch Engage.”

Track Listing:

01. Consume The Damned
02. The Way We Die
03. Your Last Breath
04. Stay Of Execution
05. Break The Ties
06. Shattered Silence
07. Let The Pain Take Hold
08. Master Of None
09. Searching For The Sun
10. How The End Shall Be
11. Broken By The Cold

Run Time: 47:32
Release Date: November 6, 2015

Check out the song “Your Last Breath” here.