DevilDriver
February 9, 2017
Regent Theater – Los Angeles, CA
The Bound By The Road tour featured a very interesting and diverse lineup. The headliners consisted of groove metal band DevilDriver and thrash metal band, Death Angel. Two completely different styles of metal. Fans in attendance seemed to be separated based on what band they were here to see. Some fans were only there to see Death Angel and then would leave after them, and some were only there for DevilDriver and had most likely never heard of Death Angel prior to this show. Still, it made for a nice mix of metal to give metal heads a chance to try and branch out their styles of metal, if they choose to open their minds. The venue was only half full, but that didn’t stop fans from having their fun.
Death Angel are a thrash metal band from the San Francisco Bay Area. They have been around since the 80’s and are one of the key bands from the Bay Area thrash metal movement which included fellow thrash metal bands Exodus, Megadeth, Testament, Slayer, and even the legendary Metallica. In 2016, the band released their eighth studio titled, The Evil Divide. Fans of the band could be distinguished by their clothing in classic thrash metal style of simply wearing a Death Angel shirt. The lights went out and the members of the band came out and started the intro to the instrumental track The Ultra-Violence 
from their 1987 debut album of the same name. After the intro was finished, frontman Mark Osegueda joined his bandmates on stage as the band quickly jumped into the debut album classic, Evil Priest. Death Angel plays their old school thrash metal music and the fans go crazy as a mosh pit quickly develops and engulfs anyone caught inside of it. Even crowd surfers made an early appearance right away. Osegueda could still pull out the high notes required for the song and was very energetic on stage as he actively ran around and jumped at every opportunity. Guitarists Rob Cavestany and Ted Aguilar would shred away on their guitars headbanging and soloing together and of course having fun playing their music. Some of the other shred-tastic songs performed were: Claws in So Deep, Left for Dead, and Let the Pieces Fall.
This show was a special occasion for the band as it was Osegueda’s birthday and so he drank alcohol on stage whenever and opportunity arose. With a short opening set, Death Angel finished up the show with the first track from the new album, The Moth. Death Angel thanked the crowd for coming out as they were for sure going to continue celebrating Osegueda’s birthday for the rest of the night.
DevilDriver is a groove metal band from Santa Barbara, California. In 2016, the band released their seventh studio album, Trust No One. Plenty of DevilDriver fans could be seen amongst the crowd considering how many of them were sporting the band’s merch. The lights went out and the remaining fans that stayed for DevilDriver cheered as the band members came on stage and started the show with End of the Line. The band had a really nice light show going on to give the band a nicer feel and look to their performance. Not All Who Wander Are Lost was the second song played and gave just as much energy to the fans as the opening song. Fans were still actively moshing and crowd surfing the whole night. Frontman Dez Fafara would be the one to primarily take center stage and unleash his heavy metal growls that could be heard throughout the whole venue. The other members of the band would also actively run around on stage to give themselves a very energetic live performance. Other songs played included Cry For Me Sky, Grinfucked, and My Night Sky. Nearing the end of the show, DevilDriver took an interesting turn when they played a cover of AWOLNATION‘s, Sail. It was a very interesting, yet comedic song to be played since the whole night was just fast and heavy music from them. Now at the end of the show, Fafara took notice how there were people standing around at the sides of the venue and told them to not stand around and jump in the pit. The band played Before the Hangman’s Noose and left the stage. The crowd stuck around for a while and chanted the band’s name. DevilDriver came back out for some encores and played the first encore which hits home for the band and the audience as the song was called Clouds Over California. The fans still had lots of energy left and the moshing and crowd surfing did not stop. Two more of the band’s hits were played to finish up the show which were Ruthless and Meet the Wretched. DevilDriver wrapped up their show, greeted fans, then left the stage. Hopefully both DevilDriver and Death Angel received new fans from each other’s ends.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
DevilDriver
Death Angel
