THE CHANCE THEATRE
POUGHKEEPSIE,NY
AUGUST 8, 2008
by Morgan Y. Evans
photos by Matt Goldpaugh
LINKS:
The year 2008 is looking already like it is going to go down as one of the strongest years for heavy metal in sometime. Not only do we have Max Cavalera and his brother Igor’s reunion in Cavalera Conspiracy, but great records like (the sadly broken up) Byzantine’s Oblivion Beckons, the new Shai Hulud album and most importantly, a truly great new Testament album The Formation Of Damnation, the first after nine years of struggle including legendary thrash singer Chuck Billy beating cancer. The record even features Alex Skolnick again, who hasn’t been on board since The Ritual in 1992. In fact, the Testament line-up now touring is all the original members, sans Louie Clemente, whose shoes are filled on new tours and CD by the more than capable, and actually better drummer and (oft-Testament associated) Mr. Paul Bostaph. If this doesn’t make you drool and snort flames enough, kids, these veteran, diehard motherfuckers are touring this summer with what is maybe one of the sickest bills in metal history, the so-good-you-can-barely-wrap-your-head-around-it Metal Masters tour featuring Judas Priest, Testament, Motorhead and Heaven and Hell! Holy smokes!
It was a night
off from their usual half-hour set from that tour which led Testament
to rip open Poughkeepsie’s veins and pour in the proverbial salt,
giving us lucky attendees their full, glorious and classic metal-filled
set that leaned, of course, mainly from their earliest records and the
newest release. Still, every Testament album really does have something
to offer regardless of line up, because Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson
always used top notch talent and even when it got real growly and more
death metal like on the underrated and recently re-released on Prosthetic
Records Demonic album, they showed up death metal bands too!
I think of the big four ‘80s thrash bands, Megadeth, Metallica,
Anthrax and Slayer that, let’s face it, as much as I love Anthrax,
they really should’ve gotten the number five slot and not Testament.
Tailgating in the parking lot drinking Yuengling, the photographer Matt Goldpaugh and I were psyched to see the age range of people coming out for these dudes to represent. There were even two guys dressed head to toe in King Diamond merch, including headbands, watches and lighters, which, while it has nothing to do with Testament, is awesome. Tip though to the aspiring metalhead new to parking lot drinking: If you don’t want to draw security’s attention to you, perhaps you shouldn’t have the cab lights of your pick up truck on as you smoke weed and drink tall boy cans and blast metal, like the two dufuses parked in front of us. But let’s get on to the show itself!
The opening bands on this warm
and adrenaline-filled night were pretty derivative. One had a song called
“Evil Jesus” I think, and while some had heart, I think The
Chance dropped the ball in not booking the by far best old school influenced
heavy metal band from the Hudson Valley region, Cold War Survivor. I could
barely watch the openers thinking how much better Cold War would’ve
been up there. As it was, it didn’t matter too much as much as they
were missed, because it was all about Testament. By the time the Bay Area
boys strutted out proudly to drunken cheers, (and to the perfectly suitable
“The Boys Are Back In Town” by Thin Lizzy, no less!) the whole
place had their inner amps turned up to eleven.
Opening with “Over the Wall” and quickly following with “Into the Pit”, the band sounded as tight as they ever did, and the infectious and good energy between Skolnick and Chuck onstage was great to see. Eric Peterson was also brilliant and it was so good to see him out there again and for fans to be able to show our thanks for him really holding it together for Testament over the years. Greg Christian, one of the most underrated bassists of all time, also dazzled, though his grimy metal hair and gruff visage isn’t dazzling. This ain’t a Poison show, boys and girls! But Greg truly has some of the best finger work in metal history. His runs and Geezer’s from Sabbath are just so fluid and on the money sometimes, as evidence by the blur of the dudes hands during “Practice What You Preach”, which I was happily thrashing to and getting punched in the chest and back because I couldn’t properly mosh because I was also distracted watching these guys pull off this complicated thrash shit live.
The best song of the night though, as much as the old stuff was gripping, was perhaps “More Than Meets The Eye” from The Formation Of Damnation, with Paul Bostaph just fucking brutalizing the drums, one of the hardest hitting drummers live I have ever witnessed. His attitude was infectious as you can tell homie is thrilled to be playing Testament stuff again and really is bleeding it up there under the lights.
Throughout the night Chuck Billy reigned over the proceedings with a near bemused yet enthusiastic fervor, winding up the crowd and throwing his fist and huge mane of hair and getting everyone to sing along like the pro and metal lifer he is. Skolnick was practically levitating into the air at one point while Chuck hollered his brains out.
Chuck reminded the crowd that heavy metal never dies, and I doubt there was anyone (ears ringing and heads full of the insane leads they’d witnessed all night), who left the show feeling unsatisfied or doubting the man.