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LOS ANGELES, CA-
“… The second band to perform at OZZFEST was the Santa Barbara based, death metal group DevilDriver (formerly Deathride). While the group’s lineup has changed over the years, the voice of the group, Dez Fafara, remains and they punish audiences with their relentless riffs and pummeling death metal blastbeats.
In 2018, they released “Outlaw ’till the end, Vol. 1” which was their 8th studio album and a compilation of metal covers of country staples. I was hoping that they’d include a song or two from that album as I was particularly intrigued with their renditions of songs like “Whiskey River” (I’m a pretty big Willie Nelson fan). They didn’t include any cuts from Outlaw into their OZZFEST setlist, but rather focused on treating fans to a selection of their greatest hits (“Clouds Over California”, “I Could Care Less”, “Hold Back The Day”, etc). They included a cover, but it was of Awolnation’s “Sail” (another recording that DevilDriver had noticeable success with).
What made DevilDriver’s performance stand out in my mind was the connection they had with a large majority of the crowd. They had plenty of their own fans in the audience (as was noted by all of the DevilDriver t-shirts I saw worn by fans), but as soon as Dez instructed the crowd to open up the mosh pit, telling them to “go” when he said so, and then belting one of his signature howls as we he watched the moshers go nuts, I found myself wishing that I didn’t have my photo gear draped around my shoulders. Checking bodies in the pit was looking real fun, and I could tell Dez was getting a kick out of watching everyone lose it as well…”
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