DevilDriver with Suffocation

Devil Driver with Suffocation
Date: 01/07/10
Place: Glass House, Pomona CA
Review by ~ Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal

It wasn't a sell-out crowd at the Glass House tonight by any means and understandably so, as this was on a Thursday night and in an area that is far to get to for most people. Nonetheless, the fans that did turn up enjoyed themselves and made sure that the bands had a good time playing for them as well.

The first band to hit the stage was Thy Will Be Done. They didn't really impress me with their music all that much, but I would give them credit for trying their best out there and trying to put on a good show. They should keep at it, tour as much as they can and eventually they'll start getting a better reception. The singer also told us that they were stuck in Missouri for close to 60 hours on their way over here. After hearing that, I was glad they even made it here and got to play at all.

The next band Goatwhore really impressed me though. I had never seen them properly before. The lead vocalist Louis Benjamin and the guitarist Sammy Duet were great in terms of stage presence and performance, specially Benjamin who knew how to get the crowd involved. They played a total of 9 songs which was a decent length of set being the 2nd band on the line-up I thought, five of which were from there latest record 'Carving Out The Eyes Of God'. This album has been rated very highly by the Goatwhore fans and it showed in the kind of response those songs got when the band played them. In spite of the lack of attendance the mosh pits were pretty intense and there were one or two crowd surfers as well.

Other than the new album songs, they played some of their older songs like 'Blood Guilt Eucharist' and 'Alchemy Of The Black Sun Cult'. This is one band for which you should look beyond the lyrics and the genre and listen to them for the music. They certainly are consistently good at what they do and I don't see a reason why they wouldn't climb up the ladder and get on bigger tours in the future.

Here's their complete set list:

1. The All-Destroying
2. Provoking The Ritual Of Death
3. Blood Guilt Eucharist
4. Carving Out The Eyes Of God
5. Nocturnal Holocaust
6. Alchemy Of The Black Sun Cult
7. In Legions, I Am Wars Of Wrath
8. Desolate Path To Apocalyptic Ruin
9. Apocalyptic Havoc

Next band were one of the greatest death metal bands Suffocation. Its sad that they got here as a support act and it wasn't their own show, but they definitely made the most of the 45-minute set that they got and the fans seemed to enjoy every minute of it. Frank was his energetic self while Guy and Terrance laid down some crushing riffs and solos. Mike was a beast on drums as he always has been. Derek Boyer seemed to really get into his bass playing by crouching low and kneeling down on the stage plenty of times with the bass vertically upwards.

They opened with the title track of the latest album 'Blood Oath' following it up with two of their early, old school tunes 'Suspended In Tribulation' and 'Thrones Of Blood'. They switched it up again with a couple of newer songs after that. Then came two more titles songs 'Pierced From Within' and 'Breeding The Spawn'. Frank gave out a little speech to pump up the crowd before they played 'Bind Torture Kill' and closed the short set with a song from the very first album, 'Liege Of Inveracity'. They thanked the crowd for the support and said goodbye. Many of the people seemed to have come to the show just for Suffocation and I saw them leaving after their set. It was a good selection of songs considering they had only nine songs they could play and I hope they get to do a headline tour sometime soon where they could promote their new album in a better way.

Here's their complete set list:

1. Blood Oath
2. Suspended In Tribulation
3. Thrones Of Blood
4. Abomination Reborn
5. Cataclysmic Purification
6. Pierced from Within
7. Breeding the Spawn
8. Bind Torture Kill
9. Liege of Inveracity

The headline act tonight was DevilDriver. I was happy to see them pick a touring line-up that was a zillion times better than their previous 'thrash and burn' tour in July 2009, having a bunch of hardcore/grindcore bands and from my own experience at the Hollywood show and from what I heard from the fans, there was absolutely nothing 'thrash and burn' about that tour. But, all was surely forgiven here as they hit the stage after a decent performance by Thy Will Be Done and two great performances by Goatwhore and Suffocation. As expected, the crowd was young, in good voice and full of energy.

They opened with a song title I admit has been used by one too many bands, 'End Of The Line'. But it's a very good opening number for them. They continued with another song off of the same record, 'Before The Hangman's Noose' and brought out one more later in the set. As the band is still touring to promote their latest album 'Pray For Villains', there was a fairly good number of songs from that album, as many as four. These included one of my favorite DevilDriver songs 'I've Been Sober'. Despite the fact that many people don't rate the album as high as the older ones, I think it's a good effort and particularly this song is a good live song. Another one of my favorites 'Clouds Over California' made its appearance as well. 'Get the fuck into the pit' said frontman Dez, and almost everyone did, making the song 'I Could Care Less' the best song and highlight of their show. They closed the main set with 'Meet The Wretched', teased us for about five minutes and finally came out with the encore 'The Mountain'.

So overall, it was a very interesting line-up with all four bands playing different styles of music and it made for an enjoyable night out for one and all.

Here's their complete set list:

1. End of the Line
2. Before the Hangman's Noose
3. Pray for Villains
4. Back With A Vengeance
5. Clouds Over California
6. Fate Stepped In
7. Grinfucked
8. Hold Back the Day
9. These Fighting Words
10. Not All Who Wander Are Lost
11. I Could Care Less
12. I've Been Sober
13. Meet the Wretched

Encore
14. The Mountain

Check out these bands at: www.devildriver.com, www.suffocation.us and www.goatwhore.net

Interview with Jeff Kendrick of DevilDriver

Andrew: First show of the tour tonight. How has the preparation been?

Jeff: We have rehearsal and we showed up. That's about it (laughs). But yeah we are ready to go. We've been on tour for months and months so we're ready.

Andrew: What can we expect from the set list this time compared to the Thrash and Burn tour?

Jeff: I think there are a couple of different songs. I think we have one or two songs we didn't play from the Pray For Villains album. I'm not sure exactly what we are doing to tell you the truth. We'll have to look at it. We'll figure it out before we go up there. We always do.

Andrew: The Thrash and Burn tour was a weird line-up with a lot of grindcore bands on it and it got mixed reactions from some of the people who went to the shows. What did you think of it?

Jeff: Honestly was a really long day for each show of that tour. I personally really didn't like the tour. I think its cool that we got paired with a bunch of bands that we're not really similar to. It is what it is. It wasn't bad but I really didn't enjoy it that much.

Andrew: What do you think of the reaction to the new album?

Jeff: I think its been fantastic. The fans have really embraced it. I think we've reached out to new fans of the band and its so far overwhelmingly positive.

Andrew: What have you done differently on this one as compared to previous albums?

Jeff: I think the vocals have evolved a lot. Our playing abilities are a lot better and I think that's how the records have changed. We've just got progressively better at playing our instruments so that's kind of what has happened.

Andrew: What are the plans after this tour?

Jeff: We don't know exactly what we're doing. But we're really excited for this tour. This is a tour that I'm really excited to be on. I've listened to Suffocation for almost 15 years or even more. Goatwhore is great, Thy Will Be Done is great too. So its going to rock. Suffocation is one of the best death metal bands of all time. Pierced From Within is my favorite death metal record, pretty much ever.

Andrew: I read somewhere that you guys tried to do the 'largest circle pit'. Tell me a little but about that.

Jeff: We tried. Its kind of like unofficially been categorized as that because no one has really made an attempt to do it. But they denied the claim. They denied coming out and measuring but its pretty much unofficially considered as the largest circle pit. We got the title because no one else has tried it! They are supposed to measure the area of the circle but they said they couldn't do that which is kind of ridiculous, but hey what are you gonna do.

Andrew: Which albums from 2009 stuck to your mind as the best?

Jeff: I like the new Killswitch. The new Muse is really good. The new Suffocation's great. Wrath is amazing and Lamb of God are the best. A lot of good music for sure.

Andrew: What are the songs you love playing most on stage?

Jeff: It's the new songs Fate Stepped In and I've Been Sober, I love that one. We're going to play that one tonight and I absolutely love playing that song.

Interview with Guy Marchais of Suffocation

Andrew: How's it going?

Guy: It is going pretty good. First day of the tour, we were over at Fuel TV today and did a couple of songs there live for them and it will air in like two weeks. So basically played two songs already today. Now we are here, rushing, scrambling, first day you know. Making sure that everything goes smooth.

Andrew: What did you guys do in the past few days to prepare for this tour?

Guy: The bus came and picked us up five days ago. So for five days we've just been on the bus traveling to get here. Its been freezing cold weather all across the United States. Not here though (laughs). Its been nice here.

Andrew: Have you guys decided on the set list for the tour?

Guy: Well we have a bunch of songs in the mix. Everybody wants to hear something else. We try to make everybody happy. We'll play a few off of the new one, a few off Pierced From Within. We've added something from Effigy. I don't think we'll play anything from Souls to Deny. Its hard to keep everyone happy. We have yet to do a headlining tour. So when we do that we'll have almost every song, if not every song off of Blood Oath being played. But right now it is just a few songs off of each album and keeping it open.

Andrew: Are you planning on doing a headline tour in the US soon?

Guy: After this tour we get back home for like about a month or so. Then we go to Europe to do a headlining tour out there. That's only three weeks long. Then we come back and go to South America with Napalm Death to do a co-headliner with them down there, may be like 10-12 dates or something, and then we'll be doing a lot of festivals over in Europe. Then more towards the end of summer or fall sometime, possibly a headlining tour over here in the States.

Andrew: How do you rate the response to the new album?

Guy: Everything has been good so far. We can't complain. Response from the fans has been I think pretty good. This is the album we've been happiest with since the reformation. You know, Souls to Deny was rushed in the studio. So were not too happy with the album. The songs were good but, you know. The self titled we were a little more happy with, but this one we were happy with a lot with the solos, guitar sound, drum sound and everything.

Andrew: Do you think there are any promising death metal bands out there today?

Guy: I'm not too up on all the newer stuff. I am always concentrating on our own stuff, writing riffs for us and keeping an open and original mind to write our stuff. If I hear stuff its usually if I tour with a band or something that just really blows me away and to tell you the truth, Origin is sick They are in my head right now. Hate Eternal's first album is always in my head. Other than that I like Gojira and Machine Head and stuff like that. I have a wide variety of music that I listen to myself. So I don't know who would really 'carry the torch'.

Andrew: What would you cite as your influences?

Guy: My influences would be like fast music or heavy stuff like Slayer. I listened to S.O.D a lot back in the day. I grew up on Metallica. And then for more heavy stuff than that, it would be like Death. The first few Death albums were really influential to me. Morbid Angel's 'Alters of Madness' and 'Blessed are the Sick' are two of my really good favorite albums for heavy music.

Andrew: You are playing with bands like DevilDriver and Goatwhore which are different from your style of music. What do you think about them?

Guy: DevilDriver is pretty sick. I listen to some of their stuff. I wasn't really listening to their stuff before, but when we found out about the tour I listened to some of it. My fiance is like totally into DevilDriver and she loves it. So she gave me some of the stuff and I heard it. They are really good. They are not like 'metalcore' I don't think. I think they are pretty good. I've always liked Goatwhore. They have a pretty original sound and they are heavy as hell. I don't know if they are black metal or thrash metal or whatever they are, they are just sick. They are traveling on the bus with us too. They are great guys.

Andrew: Which album did you think was the best in 2009?

Guy: I would have to say Pestilence. I love that album. Its sick and I love the re-recordings of the old stuff they've put on there. I've always loved Pestilence and we're hoping possibly to may be tour with them at some point. Great guys and they sound heavy as hell.