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ANTHRAX, TESTAMENT In Providence, RI By Jay Roberts, Massachusetts Contributor Friday, August 10, 2018 @ 7:50 AM
For a night of pure unadulterated thrash metal, you can't go wrong with a double bill featuring ANTHRAX and TESTAMENT. While both bands are on board for SLAYER's farewell tour, they have been playing some off night gigs when the opportunity arises. Such was the case for their recent Rhode Island show.
After arriving a little late and catching the tail end of opening band CHURCHBURN's set (which was not to my own personal tastes), my buddy George and I were eagerly awaiting the start of the first of two main events.
I've considered myself just a casual fan of TESTAMENT over the years, liking them but never really getting THAT into them. My main source of fandom was for the "Practice What You Preach" song and their The Formation Of Damnation album. The fact that guitarist Alex Skolnick had done a stint in SAVATAGE was also a selling point for me.
But after witnessing what both George and I agreed was an impressive set, I think I've been recast as a fan of the band. Brutal, unrelenting thrash metal with an incredible level of musicianship all tied together by the giant (both figurative and literal) stage presence of vocalist Chuck Billy, this date on their "Brotherhood of the Snake Campaign 2018" tour was a knockout performance.
"Rise Up" was immensely satisfying and while my lack of deeper knowledge with the band's catalog meant I didn't know the song "Electric Crown" until I looked it up later, the song was fantastic. And there was a great solo intro by Alex Skolnick before the song started in full that was a big part of why I enjoyed the set as a whole. "Souls of Black" was intense and reminded me that I did actually like the song back when it was first released on the album of the same title.
From the stage, Chuck Billy referenced the fans while introducing "Stronghold" saying that that's what they were, a stronghold for the band and the metal community. Crowd surfing was going on throughout the band's set, but it got more intense during "Into The Pit". TESTAMENT closed out with "Disciples Of The Watch" which brought things to a crushing crescendo and had me casting off my more detached viewing of the show to cheer and throw the metal horns in appreciation for what I'd just witnessed.
http://www.testamentlegions.com
Set List:
As the band came out, guitarist Scott Ian launched into some maximum riffage and the band the band exploded into a quartet of songs that left the fans seemingly ready to blow the roof off the place. "Among The Living" opened things up and remains one of their best songs. They followed that up with "Caught In A Mosh", "Got The Time" (a personal favorite of mine) and "Madhouse". It was a grand slam of great song choices to kick off their show.
Once again, the band controlling the stage set a high energy pace that the crowd kept pace with. Bassist Frank Bello was all over the place and looked like he was freaking out all night long. Guitarist Jonathan Donais was fantastic and Joey Belladonna was in fine form (though I do believe that he said he was dealing with vertigo, so he wasn't able to go full out performance-wise like he normally does. I believe he meant with stage presence because vocally he seemed on point.) But for me, other than Scott Ian, the most interesting performer for me was drummer Charlie Benante. Back in '89, I can't say that I gave him much notice in the course of the band's performance, but I was really taken with how he performed during this show. You always hear about how drummers set the foundation for the rest of the band to build upon. If that's true, Benante's work was a rock solid foundation.
Of course, seeing them perform "Antisocial" was a huge deal for me. I don't care how many times I hear that song, it is always a winner with me. But I also got to hear stuff like "Medusa" and "Breathing Lightning" so there was a good mix of material for me to sink my teeth into on the night.
On a night like this, it is hard to choose which band ended up putting on the best show. But instead of ranking who was better, just sit back and enjoy both bands being in top notch form and providing a night of the fast and aggressive metal that gives fans a cathartic release and proves that both ANTHRAX and TESTAMENT are true thrash metal titans!
http://www.anthrax.com
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