Words – Clare.A
Photos – EVERYDAY METAL
Destroy All Lines brought us another night of epic entertainment on Sunday’s line up for the DevilDriver Australian tour. It has been 5 long years since their last tour here and this time these metal giants came to perform their latest LP of country metal covers,
Outlaw ‘Til The End: Vol. 1, and of course, their back catalogue of monster hits.
All That Remains joined them on this tour which definitely made their fans happy as it’s been about 8 years since Aussies saw them live and in true Melbourne form this event at 170 Russell Street was a sold-out show.
We had some Aussie blood open for these US talents, Newcastle’s own Lycanthrope. This 6 piece metalcore band were lucky enough to have the chance to open for Devil Driver on their Japan tour and showing that they deserve a place at the table, they were invited for the entire leg of the Australian Tour. Their energy on stage was contagious and the audience fed off the vibes starting the first of many circle pits for the night.
The stage went dark, five familiar silhouettes walked out from the wings and a roar rose up from the crowd. Philip got on the mic, “We are crowd participation kinda band, are you with me Melbourne!” Ask and you shall receive, Melbourne was with them every step of the way as All That Remains slayed through some old favourites, and some tracks from their newest album release in 2018, Victim of the New Disease. The fans sang along with every chorus and held up their middle fingers creating a sea of ‘fuck you’s’. Being a fan of death metal I am always more keen on screams and growls but All That Remains is proof that cleans can work when done expertly and it’s still heavy as fuck. Philip and Aaron play off each other creating excellent harmony but nothing is as impressive as Philips epically long scream that seems to transcend space and time.
“Let’s get it on!” Dez of DevilDriver yells as he gives high fives to the lucky fans in the front row. He has a god-like power over the crowd from the beginning and all throughout the set the pit convulses, and as if he was parting the red sea with mere hand gestures the pit opens and closes on his command. These guys are some old school metalheads and they thrash some wholesome and heavy as fuck metal our way. We get to hear a plethora of fan favourites including their signature slow jam, Sail, but we also are lucky enough to get to experience the nu-metal throwback that is Coal Chamber. They play the breakout single Loco which was released in 1997 and it causes the most manic mosh of the night. Dez flashes that devilish smile and continues to crack his microphone cord at the audience, literally whipping the crowd into a frenzy. True to old school metal, DevilDriver believes encores are bullshit, so when Dez says that this is their last song of the set, you better get mental. They melt our faces off with End of the Line and exit the stage, and their legions of fans are left to revel in the memories of the night.
DevilDriver continue their Australian Tour with shows in Adelaide and Perth, get your tickets here and make sure you keep up to date with the band on social media
