DEVILDRIVER, SUFFOCATION: First Dates Announced

Santa Barbara, California's DEVILDRIVER will embark on a five-week North American headlining tour in January. Direct support on the dates will come from New York extreme metal legends SUFFOCATION.

Commented SUFFOCATION in a statement: "SUFFOCATION is very excited to be touring with DEVILDRIVER. We know this will be an incredible tour, and encourage the fans to come out and see this amazing lineup!"

Although the full lineup for DEVILDRIVER's headlining trek has not yet been announced, THY WILL BE DONE revealed from the stage at last week's concert in Farmingdale, New York (with MACHINE HEAD) that they will be taking part in the tour, alongside GOATWHORE. It should be noted, however, that this information has not yet been corroborated by an official source and should be treated as a rumor only at this point.

The first ten shows are as follows (more dates to be announced soon):

Jan. 07 - Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
Jan. 08 - San Francisco, CA @ Slims
Jan. 09 - Ventura, CA @ Majestic Ventura Theater
Jan. 11 - Portland, OR @ Peter's Room at Roseland Theater
Jan. 12 - Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven
Jan. 13 - Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
Jan. 15 - Grand Junction, CO @ Mesa Theater
Jan. 16 - Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre
Jan. 18 - Maplewood, MN @ The Rock
Jan. 19 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave

According to a new online post by DEVILDRIVER bassist Jon Miller, the Santa Barbara, California-based metallers have six songs "in the bag" for the group's forthcoming album, which they "are looking to record sooner than later." He added, "We want to go faster and heavier on this one to answer any question on a 'direction' that we may be undertaking."

DEVILDRIVER drummer John Boecklin elaborated further on the status of the songwriting sessions for the band's next CD. Writing on the group's official MySpace blog, Boecklin stated, "On our last record, I would say we stretched as far as we could outside of what we had done in the past, trying new and slower songs with vocal melody like 'It's In The Cards' or the rock like feel of songs like 'Back With A Vengeance' and 'Teach Me To Whisper'. For our latest effort, we feel like musically going for the throat, so to speak.

"Are we gonna make a death metal album? No! We always have a heavy emphasis on groove and hook. That will not change. We just feel we have a certain anger edge about us and the songs we are writing compared to our last one. It will not be rushed and if you are a fan, you will not be let down!!"

Video footage of DEVILDRIVER's November 7, 2009 performance in Munich, Germany can be viewed below (courtesy of "eblinternational").

DEVILDRIVER's latest album, "Pray For Villains", sold around 14,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 35 on The Billboard 200 chart.

DEVILDRIVER's previous CD, 2007's "The Last Kind Words", shifted a little more than 14,000 copies during its first week of release to debut at No. 48 — around 40 percent more than the opening-week number of 2005's "The Fury of Our Maker's Hand", which premiered at No. 177 with sales of 10,400.

"Pray For Villains" was released on July 14 via Roadrunner Records. The effort — which was also made available as a special-edition CD/DVD package featuring three bonus tracks, a behind-the-scenes DVD and expanded artwork — was recorded at Edge of the Earth studios in Los Angeles with producer Logan Mader (FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, GOJIRA, DIVINE HERESY).