Global Domination | Witnessed | Testament: 2013-02-20

Recent updates

Recent discussions

Witnessed

Testament: 2013-02-20

10/05/13 || Sokaris

I’ve always had a sort of complicated relationship with Testament. They were a favorite early into my first exploration into thrash metal (though I only owned “The new order” for the longest time) and why wouldn’t they be? They’re a logical next step from the arena-filling acts, the biggest Bay Area band that isn’t considered part of the Big 4 and the most widely recognized of thrash’s second wave in the mid-80’s. The band has a discography that spans several distinct styles and periods and interesting fan reactions can be found all across these fair Internets. Personally, Testament’s first pair are high among my favorites of the genre and I wouldn’t hesitate to drop them both in a hypothetical “Sokaris Top 20ish” list of comparable releases. The next few follow-ups felt somewhat mediocre in comparison but opuses three and four (“Practice what you preach” and “Souls in black” respectively) remain decent thrash for the fan looking for more. Unlike some of their peers, Testament actually adapted fairly well to the ’90s… well, depending who you ask. I know plenty of people love “Low” to fucken death and well… I disa-goddamn-gree so hard that it hurts. And while I’m at it, “The gathering” is overrated as well, despite its dream team lineup. All that said, they faired a lot better than say, Destruction or Kreator.

Alright, any more sacred cows to lead up the ramp?

Anyway, Testament floated out of relevance without a new studio release for near a decade. The hype was insurmountable and “The formation of damnation” would either be a massive failure that couldn’t justify its time in production (see Metallica, over and over) or a spectacular, uhhh… testament to the band’s ability to adapt and survive at the level of Madonna/cockroach offspring.

The album is unfurled upon the anxious masses and… and…

IT… IS… OKAY.

Yeah, that’s about the gist of it. Rinse and repeat with “Dark roots of earth” (minus the ridiculous wait) and you have a thrash band at the middle of their game. If these guys have another one in ‘em you could probably make a fairly bitchin’ mix of the best of a latter trilogy that might just almost make you not just want to listen to “The legacy” instead.

With such a storied discography I wasn’t sure what to expect when the Dark Roots of Thrash Tour came to me. Between Testament’s various sounds and the inclusion/exhumation of Flotsam And Jetsam, I could only shuffle onto the darkened and stickied floors of Cincinnati’s Bogarts concert hall, wait and find out.

First up was 4Arm from Australia with their incredibly bad name and incredibly lame-ass banner. Aaaand we’re off to a… well, some kind of start. I found them mostly boring, though tight and professional despite their lack of feeling, like a jaded escort. Despite my disinterest in the band, the absolute lack of their vocalist/rhythm guitarist’s six strings in the live sound was inexcusable. I know opening bands don’t get the same attention to detail on the soundboard but give the dudes a chance. They’d do those, “one guy play the riff while the rest of the band else punctuates certain notes in unison” bits and you could just feel the crowd looking around befuddled, wondering “is this supposed to sound like this?” Fortunately their other guitarist, a hell of a player, was audible. No, I don’t really care enough to look up either of these guys’ names despite the fact that I have their Metal Archives page open in another tab. Shit, I think I just found out why they’re called 4Arm, look at that limb meat!

Moving on before that dude clothelines my damn head off…

Jason Newsted. Let’s just get that out of the way so we can talk about Flotsam And Jetsam. Actually, the sad part is that only the albums he was involved in are any good and the one that he didn’t actually participate in the recordings is a drastic step down from the blazing debut LP, “Doomsday for the deceiver”. Fortunately the boys in maybe the worst-named band to ever get kind of big realized a bunch of dudes going to a tour with “thrash” in its name recognized this and early on, a tired-looking Eric A.K. announced their intentions to dust off some old shit. And when they did, it fucking rocked. Unfortunately, when they insisted on playing something more recent than thirteen years (how fucken’ dare they, I know!) it ranged from dull to cringe-worthy. Guys, just embrace being a retro act, you can still wail, shred and pound appropriately to give justice to a song like “Iron tears” and that’s an admirable thing in and of itself. Though, you closed with the wrong title track. Sure, “No place for disgrace” is the choosey metalhead’s definitive samurai self-disembowelment epic, but if you’re Flotsam And Jetsam you play “Doomsday for the deceiver” even if you have to huff helium to hit those ridiculous screams.

So here’s the place where Overkill should be, but some unfortunate illness made the mistake of crawling into the thunderdome that is Bobby Blitz’s respiratory system. I’m sure the dude crushed it and I hope to see the lean, mean, black and green machine continue to educate the rest of the old guard as to what a comeback is the next time they fire up the bus.

The night is young and Testament is imminent!

The front line of gear is cleared from the stage, an amazing banner (the cover art for Testament’s latest, painted by the insanely talented Eliran Kantor) is revealed and the assholes that control Bogarts’ in-between-band listening decide that letting Pantera’s overrated “Vulgar display of power” just play through again is a totally good idea and not annoying as shit. Okay, last sacred cow, I promise.

The band take the stage, slamming out a pair of newer songs at exactly 23.loud-as-shit decibels. “Rise up” is kind of corny with its, “I say this and you say this” shtick written right in, but you’ll be damned that I didn’t adhere to the easy-to-follow instructions in that song. To my utter shock and absolute delight, my favorite song that isn’t “Into the pit” (which these guys could’ve played twice and no one would complain) came up next, one of only two songs from the band’s strongest effort, “The legacy” that was presented. Come on, no “Over the wall”? Is “Alone in the dark” too hard to nail? I suppose I can’t blame them for focusing almost half of their set on their last pair of releases, I imagine that nine years without a new album made them eager to bring out something different. However, four songs from “The gathering” is a bit much, isn’t it? Especially at the expense of “Disciples of the watch”. Put that back on the setlist. Obey!

Anyway, whether they were dusting off classics or airing out newies, the band was in top form. Though they can’t tout themselves as a reunion of “The new order” era, adding Gene Hoglan to any situation improves it. I mean, if The Atomic Clock (as he’s known to long-haired dudes that hit things with sticks everywhere) played badass drum solos during that stupid-ass fake redneck duck reality show everyone loves, the network responsible would finally have converted their last available victim.

Seriously…

So, of course, Hoglan dominated, using his percussive osmosis to master Testament’s catalog in the time between his other bands. Chuck Billy lugged around an infectious shit-eating grin the whole time, sounding a little reserved but well rehearsed overall. Maybe being a godlike thrash metal lead guitarist is like riding a bike, because Alex Skolnick’s study of jazz and fusion definitely didn’t replace his sizable repertoire of shred licks. The guy was a firecracker (not a racial slur) and really poured his all into his playing, leaning forward into the crowd, almost coming into contact, lest he absorb their powers.

Hmm? Oh, the thing about absorbing powers? Doesn’t he have that thing Rogue does? You know, Rogue from the X-Men? Why would he have that streak if he’s not Rogue’s brother… Brogue or something…

I assumed his sudden change of genres was due to him accidentally touching skin with someone at a jazz club.

I mean, that’s probably why he refused to sign autographs and told the fans to hurry up taking a picture with him, pretending to enjoy their company. He didn’t want to risk putting them into a coma by taking their lifeforce with his touch.

He’s got Rogue-esque powers, otherwise he was just being selfish that night and who ever heard of an egotistical lead guitarist?

Though the first half of the performance was strong (the band managed to give some rightly-deserved energy to “Practice what you preach”- decent song, boring production on the disc) things wavered for a few songs and ultimately closed with a bit of a disappointing encore. I know I’ve spent too much time naming songs they could’ve played already, but even with this batch of songs you’d think they’d save one of the relics for the last hurrah.

Regardless, Testament exhibited the kind of professional ass-kicking you expect and demand from a veteran band and despite my complaints I respect them pushing their new material. They at least make a more honest attempt at representing their current incarnation than most of the bands that exist just beyond their sphere in the Big 4.

7 out of 10.

Who: Testament, Flotsam And Jetsam, 4Arm
When: 20 February, 2013.
Where: Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.

Testament Setlist
01. Rise up
02. More than meets the eye
03. Burnt offerings
04. Native blood
05. True American hate
06. Dark roots of earth
07. Into the pit
08. Practice what you preach
09. Riding the snake
10. Eyes of wrath
11. My twin
12. Trial by fire
13. The haunting
14. The new order
Encore
15. D.N.R. (Do not resuscitate)
16. 3 days of darkness
17. The formation of damnation

Flotsam And Jetsam Setlist
Too much new shit…

Flotsam And Jetsam Setlist (as issued by Sokaris for their next tour)
“Doomsday For The Deceiver” in fucken full, complete with a dude dressed as Flotzilla beating up Satan at some point.

Witnessed