Unlike the Warped Tour, which after 10 years of the tour seems to have no end in sight, the tenth edition of the OzzFest tour seems to have the powerhouse slowing down towards an end. The tour lacked the intensity of last year’s edition, and too many so-so performances and cancellations from bands took the sails out of this year’s edition.

13 hours of drunken mobs of guys screaming at women to take their tops off, and parking lot mosh pits has been the norm for OzzFest, and it was never so evident (and played out) as at this year’s OzzFest.

As a real rock fan, I know not to get to the event until between 11am and noon, so any reviews of the Haunted, and Jada Pinkett Smith’s much-maligned group, Wicked Wisdom won't be found here.

The first part of the day brought bands that were the usual OzzFest scream fest, and didn’t bring much to the table. Sweden’s Soilwork and Arch Enemy yelled and tried to sound scary as the fans streamed into the gates and ordered their first of many beers on the day.

Orlando based Trivium sounded slightly better, but with songs like “Pulling the Strings of Your Martyr”, the band has a long way to go before success and Trivium meet up.

Oak Park (Michigan) based The Black Dahlia Murder had the local fans going nuts with their guttural rants, which turned stale quickly.

Some promise out of the second stage came from “Battle For OzzFest” winners A Dozen Furies. The band from Dallas brought out moments and fury like another Dallas band from the past, Pantera. With songs like “The Everlasting Grudge”, the band promoted their upcoming record, due September 13th with a decent 25 minute set.

The largest disappointment of the day was the cancellation of Atlanta’s Mastodon, whose prog-rock meets metal riffs were scheduled to be one of the high points of the day. Family emergencies forced the band off the tour for a few dates, so fans missed out and what was to be the best set of the day.

Boston band Killswitch Engage provide wails and counterbalanced it with soaring melodies, and still had the crowd pumping their fists to songs like “A Bid Farewell” and the stellar “The End of Heartache”. Give this band a few years, and they may be a rock radio staple. As if we could only get so lucky…

Second stage headliner Rob Zombie turned in a surprisingly so-so performance. Perhaps it was the rust of not performing regularly in three years, but Zombie seemed like he was phoning in the performance, perhaps from his next movie set. The batch of songs, such as massive rock hits “More Human Than Human”, and “Dragula” seem a lot more fun with Zombie’s usual stage props as well.

Main Stage:

When the scene moved to the usual confines of DTE Energy Music Theatre, instead of the baking hot parking lot, the groups put up decent, but by no means stellar performances. Swedish group In Flames proved a different sound of metal to the stage. With their electronic based thrash, the group pleased their core audience with a 25 minute set.

Guitar genius Zakk Wylde and his band, Black Label Society is a band that seems to be underachieving. With the songs getting better, and Wylde’s strong guitar work, Wylde spent too much time in soloing mode, and I missed a few other songs that could have been played. Wylde seemed to rush through the final few songs, such as “Fire It Up” and “Stillborn”. The band is becoming tight and the sound is better, but the excessive "guitar virtuoso stuff" brought the set down.

Massachusetts’ Shadows Fall ripped through their set, with the screaming/melody contrast that worked for Killswitch Engage. However, to this reviewer, it’s better to see this band and their songs, such as “What Drives The Weak” in a small club versus the cavernous amphitheatre.

Probably the strongest performance of the main stage came from Mudvayne. The former painted face men from Illinois finally had the mosh pits going on the lawn, and people singing along. The band bounced around their 45 minute set, with material from their three albums. Much of the crowd had been out of it before Mudvayne, probably from the heat or other activities.

Legendary Iron Maiden hit the stage next, and pleased many of the fans in the audience with their hour-long set. Playing material strictly from their first four albums, Maiden ripped through “Run To The Hills” and “The Trooper”. Lead singer/egomaniac Bruce Dickinson ran around in a leather outfit that looked straight from his closet in 1983. For big Maiden fans, this was the set of the day.

As with last year, this reviewer did not stay for much of Black Sabbath. It is tough to watch Ozzy Osbourne struggle through a set these days. With missing the previous three shows, and two others on this tour, Black Sabbath is becoming a liability on OzzFest this year.

As much as Ozzfest fans want to say there is no OzzFest with OUT Ozzy Osbourne, this reviewer tends to disagree. Ozzy may need to take some time off, perhaps a permanent vacation, and let either middle aged bands that can still move (Iron Maiden), or new upstarts (Mudvayne, etc…) headline the festival in the future. Ten summers in a row is too much for anybody. OzzFest put forth a decent, but not spectacular effort this year. Oh, if I could only hop back in a time machine to last year’s show, I would be completely complete...

Art can be reached at arthatesyou@detroitbuzz.com