Groove metal OGs Devildriver set out on their Strike and Kill North American run with the savage showing in San Diego. Out in support of the band's most recent studio album, the eagerly-awaited return to the stage resulted in a palpable anticipation as the band took on a capacity crowd inside the Observatory North Park. 

Laying down the gauntlet from the jump, the classic "Clouds over California" leveled the room, quickly reestablishing the modern era of the band is as dominant as ever. No less effective, the band's newest entries in "Dig Your Own Grave," "Dead In the Water" and the live debut of the title track, 'Strike and Kill" asserted the the sheer muscle of the band's current configuration. 

Among heavy music's most revered and celebrated frontmen, Dez Fafara, functions more like a general, leading the battle and racheting up the intensity with each song in the set list. The band also included a few tricks up their sleeve, launching into a rendition of "Swinging the Dead" that hadn't made the setlist in nearly twenty years. 

Closing the night with anthem 'End of the Line," the reinvigorated version of Devildriver showed zero signs of ring rust with the kind of return felt as if the band never left. 

See the gallery of images from Shaun Vizzy Vaughn below; All remaining dates of the Strike and Kill tour can be found following the gallery. Get tickets - HERE

DEVILDRIVER

UPON A BURNING BODY

OV SULFUR