Live4metal.com review of 'thirty pieces' Devil To Pay - Thirty Pieces of Silver (Benchmark Records) Review by Chris La Tray I consider myself to be, first and foremost, a fan of independent heavy music. I love many different styles of music, but when it gets down to brass tacks, I prefer my rock to be loud and full of crushing drums, bass thunder and reckless guitar. Over the past few months, however, I was getting worried. I've maintained for some time that the best music remained in the underground -- hungry bands, not necessarily young, doing it themselves for nothing more than the glory of the music, and a don't-really-give-a-shit-if-we-make-it attitude. After all, is not the act of making music is its own payoff? The answer only seems to come from bands that aren't caught up in their own glory: music retains much of its purity under the radar of modern pop culture. That said, my recent favorites have all been major label drops -- like Black Label Society -- or revivals of tried and true rockers returned-to-form (think Exodus here). Where was the new blood, or even new releases from underground bands I was already familiar with, that would really fire me up? Had the underground lost its ability to jump out the speakers and drag me out of whatever reverie I may have fallen into and force me into an uncontrollable one-man mosh? Devil to Pay comes pretty damn close. Close enough, certainly, to revive my hope that just when I think maybe this particular genre has shot its wad for me, another band will crawl out of some smarmy rehearsal room and bust an independent rock record over the heads of the greasy denim-clad multitudes like Moses come down from the mountain with a flying v and one badass riff. In the case of these Indianapolis dwellers, it is substantially more than one riff -- it's an album's worth. The instrumental "Mouthful of Spite" stomps the album into gear, an uptempo rabblerouser that immediately seizes your attention. What struck me most was the production of this record -- everything sounds great. There is no attempt here to try and be heavier-than-the-next-band; Devil to Pay seem to know the sound they are after, and they do an excellent job of squeezing that onto plastic. And what is that sound? Well, "Spite" is a bit misleading, as it is somewhat alone in that gritty uptempo rock vibe when compared against the rest of the record. If I were to make comparisons, I'd throw these guys somewhere in between Soundgarden and Kyuss. In fact, singer/guitarist Steve Janiak belts out some pretty fine John Garcia on several songs. In fact, the sort of off kilter rhythm of "Angular Shapes" could indeed be a lost Kyuss track, just better sounding than the mud of that seminal band's recordings. The Soundgarden comparison kicks in somewhat on the very next track, "Tractor Fuckin' Trailer." A big riff, dynamics, and some quality vocals from Janiak. Ah yes, and guitar solos throughout -- GOOD guitar solos even! I like a chunky riff as much as the next guy, but I live for some longhair strangling a lead out of a Les Paul even more. Everything is well done here, and well played. The rhythm section is solid, the guitars mixed with quality tone, and the arrangements dynamic. If I had any criticism, I would say the medium-slow tempo of most of the songs starts to make my attention drift by the end of the record, but that is a minor beef. If Devil to Pay dropped a song or two from the final product, or threw in another uptempo bruiser like "Mouthful of Spite," this would be significantly more than "just" a very good album. Nice work, guys. Here's to more from Devil to Pay!