There are times when rock’n’roll is off the leash, off the rails and, at the risk of understatement, off its rocker. For the most part, now is not one of those times. But there are forces at work in defiance of this state of affairs. And that’s The Damn Truth.

You could say that Montreal’s The Damn Truth are keeping rock honest, and nowhere is that more apparent than on the group’s newest full-length album, the sophomore Devilish Folk. The follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut, Dear in the Headlights, Devilish Folk sees the band – Lee-La Baum (vocals/guitar), Tom Shemer (guitars) and Dave Traina (drums) – doubling down on the bruising blues-based, blue-collar rock that distinguished them, and made them something of a musical anomaly, from the moment of inception. In a world where being different doesn’t always mean being celebrated, The Damn Truth are fighting the good fight.

With Devilish Folk (2016), everyone’s about to get another loud reminder. From the outset, the 12-song Devilish Folk gives no quarter and takes no prisoners. It comes roaring out of the gate with the propulsive, heavy-bottomed White Lies, which sets the tone for much of the remainder of the record. Songs like the epic riff rocket Pirates & Politicians, metal-edged rager Wouldn’t Be Lying, retro-styled garage rocker Get With You (also the first single off the album, released on vinyl in May 2014), the compellingly melancholic The Match and the album-closing Devilish Folk (“It’s an incentive to get to the end of the album,” says Dave, “because there’s a candy waiting there for you”).

Devilish Folk was recorded and produced in Montreal by the aforementioned Jean Massicotte, while Grammy-Award-winning producer/engineer/mixer Tchad Blake (Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys, U2) mixed nine of the 12 songs on the album from his home studio in Wales. For mastering, the band enlisted Grammy-Award-winning mastering engineer John Davis (Led Zeppelin, Royal Blood, Lana Del Rey) of Metropolis in London. The results surpassed already high expectations, something they also attribute to a change in their process.