the next album i bought from the devildriver re-issue catalogue was their fifth full length called "beast". it was the last of theirs which i obtained when it came out. never listened to any tunes after "beast". maybe i will have to rethink this. anyway, i always thought that this album from 2011 was a splendid one. again, devildriver could not make a record without one or two fillers but the overall quality of "beast" is remarkable.
as much as i like to hear the band's recorded material, their three live performances i saw so far (club and festival shows) have always had a very bad sound. they were a complete blur and dez fafara's voice sounded so weak. maybe this was all due to a drunk soundman or something but i rather spin one of their records than attend a devildriver live gig again. just like with "the fury of our maker's hand" the re-mastered album is a pleasure for the ears.
back in the day i bought the digipak cd version which came with a black and red coloured cover. i am delighted to see that bmg went for the regular cd version cover with the lovely purple and green colour theme. they went above and beyond with the vinyl colour-way and came up with a sugar sweet merge pattern. what beauties those two discs are, aren't they? the gatefold is made in a different fashion from the cargo/roadrunner first pressing. the lyrics are printed onto the inner gatefold and not on printed dust sleeves. 1500 copies made. bmg. 2018.
