Metalmafia.com review of "thirty pieces" 01-28-04 REVIEWER QUOTE: "Professional quality production values, mixed with a talented group of local legends, is the combination that results in this full length album from Devil To Pay... 30 Pieces of Silver is full of hard hitting guitar driven rock music... If you're into this style of music, then Devil To Pay is definitely one of the best bands I've ever heard flaunt it..." There is no mistaking the power behind Devil To Pay's music... They play aggressive rock music, without the screaming vocals that most heavy bands tend to rely on... Instead, Steve Janiak (vocals) speaks very clearly so that you can understand all of the lyrics, while adding this unique rasp to his vocals that I can't really compare to anyone else in particular... The only band that I personally listen to at all, that I would compare DTP to, would be Corrosion of Conformity, in that the guitar riffs fill a large portion of the musical backbone, and the drums are there to tie everything together flawlessly... Where's The BBQ Sauce? - "A Few Extra Pieces of Gold Would Be Nice..." I like the music that Devil To Pay has created for this album, but there are still a few things that I would have liked to see, that are relatively non-existent on this recording... One thing I'm a huge fan of personally, would be vocal harmonies in general, and through this entire album, I only heard one vocal harmony... Steve's vocals are similar enough to those of Layne Staley from Alice In Chains, to the point where I feel some Cantrell style vocal harmonies would really sound great mixed in with Devil To Pay's music... And they obviously have the talent to pull this type of thing off, it's just a matter of actually doing it... Also, for a band with two guitarists, they don't utilize the 2 great guitarists to the same extent that I would like to have seen... Going back to the C.O.C. comparison, one of my favorite songs of theirs was "Seven Days" off their Deliverance album... It featured some really nice dual guitar harmonies, without overdoing anything, and again, I think this type of addition would be a very welcome one, if mixed in with the rest of Devil To Pay's music... The riffs are great, I would just like to see a few more layers added on top of some of the stuff, to give it that extra special polish for the ears of listeners like myself... Like I said, the music is great, but there is still room for improvement... Dynamic River of Sound - "Turning Water Into Wine..." Most of the time when you hear a band that plays heavy rock & roll music, the drummers either use too much double bass, or else they don't really stray from the norm, and they stick to straight forward rock beats... Chad Prifogle (Drums) blends flow & groove to perfection... There aren't many bands that I can think of, that have a drummer that really plays this huge of a part in controlling the dynamics of the songs... Sometimes he just kind of hangs out in the background with a nice cool back beat, and sometimes he takes control of the song, like in "Dinosaur Steps" and really beats the hell out of everything... I'm a huge fan of the way the drums & guitars blend together in this band... That's probably my favorite thing about Devil To Pay actually, the way the guitars & drums mix... "FINAL THOUGHTS..." Overall, I would recommend Devil To Pay's album "30 Pieces of Silver" to anyone & everyone who enjoys good solid heavy rock & roll music... The band is tight, really solid musically, and the songs have this dark depth to them, that really makes them easy to grow attached to... On the other hand, this really isn't my thing, due to the fact that I would personally have liked to see a few more layers mixed into the record... The entire time I was listening to this, I had vocal harmony ideas, and harmonized guitar riffs flying through my head, and I can't help but think about what their music would be like with that little extra "something"... All in all, this is a solid release, and quite possibly, the most professional sounding CD that I've ever heard come from a local band... I'm looking forward to seeing whether this band continues to evolve in future recordings, or whether they end up sticking to the straight forward rock formula that obviously works for "Thirty Pieces of Silver"... I'm kind of hoping to see some more evolution in the song writing process next time, but at the same time, it's kind of comforting knowing that there is a band around Indianapolis that can turn bricks into buildings, and turn buildings into songs... If I had to sum Devil To Pay's music up in one word, there would be no question... Devil to Pay is... "ROCK"...