The Devil Rides Out's members hail from some of the most colorful acts the local scene has produced in the past decade. Guitarist Nick Grazier and drummer Bob Rodriguez played with the Deathray Angels, once renowned for a stage show that incorporated stage blood and pyrotechnics. Frontman Thad Carson served stints with Bent and Ultrafuge, making him a decorated veteran of the infamously rowdy America's Pub band battles of the late '90s. Here, his booming, Danzig-style delivery makes The Devil Rides Out sound like T.S.O.L. or an alternate-dimension Misfits that plays garage rock instead of hardcore. Darkly theatrical punk bands have always had mean streaks, and Carson embraces sleazy misanthropy, sneering I love you only when we screw during the Motorhead-fast rant "Dirty Filthy Love." The blues jam "I'll Fall Again" plods like drunken-Morrison Doors, but the rhythm section keeps the record's pulse racing through most of its six-track, 22-minute duration.
