Few bands in metal manage to marry the fury of extreme metal with memorable hooks the way that Santa Barbara’s Devildriver do. Formed out of the ashes of lead singer Dez Fafara’s former band Coal Chamber, Devildriver’s self-titled debut album was unleashed on an unsuspecting public in October of 2003. Their sound and fury is (thankfully) a lightyear from the nu metal meanderings of Coal Chamber.

Fafara and a revolving cast of musicians have released six high quality albums over the last dozen years as Devildriver. The unit is currently on hiatus as Fafara is currently touring in support of Coal Chamber’s reunion record. The singer has stated that Devildriver is currently writing material for their next album which should see the light of day sometime in 2016.

Meanwhile, from the debut album here is Devildriver’s manifesto “I Could Care Less.”

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When I was growing up in rural Indiana in the early ’80s, there was very limited access to heavy music. These were the days before MTV blew up with the whole hair metal, Headbangers Ball phenomenon. But on Sunday nights, there was a two-hour radio show that came from WOXY, just across the state line in Oxford, Ohio (home of Miami University of Ohio). It was called Massive Metal for the Masses and I would wait all week for it to air. It was through this show that I was introduced to bands like Venom, Bathory, WASP, Michael Schenker Group, Slayer, and countless others. This Monday weekly column is my tip of the hat to that show. I call it Massive Metal Monday. Every week, I will pay tribute to defining moments by the artists that laid the groundwork for heavy metal to become the worldwide cultural bond for all of us metal heads.