On December 13, DEVILOOF celebrated the band's tenth anniversary at Shibuya STREAM HALL in a simultaneous tearful send off for drummer Kanta who has left the band.
As a special treat, the physical paintings that DEVILOOF commissioned from artist Yukihisa Tamura for Inshuu and Rasetsuten were on display at the venue! Seeing them in person was amazing, Tamura is a very talented artist with a real flair for gore. I felt like I was looking at the metal Mona Lisa--they're much smaller in person.
The band came out to GouZinZanGoku off of the 2019 Oni album and just absolutely demolished song after song. There wasn't much talking compared to other bands, so it was just hit after hit, "I hope you have insurance for the bangover you're going to have in the morning" vibes for the entire set. Positively sublime. DEVILOOF crowds are just some of the nicest, funnest people to be in the pit with. Even with people headbanging and moshing all over the place, everyone was so aware of how much space they were taking up and who they were bumping into. I will definitely be putting DEVILOOF on my list of bands to frequent.
Vocalist Keisuke sounds almost better than the recording live. He sounds exactly like what you expect him to, but somehow his highs are higher. It's sincerely impressive. I was standing stage left so I didn't get much of a view of Daiki (ba) from my point of view, but I did get a full view of Ray (gt) who really basks in the crowd's adoration like it energizes him (and he's really good at guitar so he deserves every second of soaking it in).
Kanta (dr), it seems, doesn't really speak much live but because he is leaving the band he decided to take the mic and say some words of gratitude for the years he spent in DEVILOOF. There seems to be no love lost, as vocalist Keisuke repeatedly asked Kanta if he would stay, but Kanta seems to have made up his mind. May he find success in his future endeavors!
Also, congrats to the band for the song Inshuu making it to Metal Hammer's poll for best metal song of 2025!
