Words – Clare
Photo – @photo.amai
What better way to celebrate the winter solstice than by heading out to the Northcote Theatre on the darkest day of the year to see the down right dirty thrash metal giants Testament on their first Australian headline tour in 11 years.
Despite the cold night air the supports Hidden Intent received a very warm welcome from the crowd and for good reason as they delivered a super fun feast of their South Australian style thrash with tracks from their newest album Terrorform including Paradoxx, The Ruins, the title track and Reaper. And of course A koala teddy bear was raised up from the pit for Drop Bears Are Real with vocalist McThrashy pointing and exclaiming ‘there it is!’.
‘Sorry it took so long’ Chuck Billy announced ‘we’re finally here and it feels great’. It had been a long stretch since Testament touched our laid back shores and they delivered on all of their fans hopes and expectations including a solid 1 hour and 40 minute set filled with mind boggling guitar and drum solos and nostalgic stories from the bands beginnings. They were truly captivating throughout, with all band members charismatically connecting with their fans, partaking in our local idioms, touching outstretched arms from the front row and regaling us with nostalgic stories of their past.
The title track from the 1989 album release Practise What You Preach kicked things off and got the pit pumping and the even earlier 1987 track The Haunting had Peterson recall the days as teenagers ripping bong hits and sneaking out windows. Rise Up had the whole room responding to the call ‘When I say rise up you say war. Rise up, WAR!, rise up, WAR!’ Also compelling the crowd to roar was the equally anthemic track Low ‘That felt good’ remarked Chuck noting that they should definitely play more from the 1994 album. Next up was a track close to Chuck’s heart, Native Blood which the indigenous vocalist dedicated to all first nations people who need to be heard.
Trail of Tears and Return to Serenity slowed things down for a minute while The Formation of Damnation initiated a wall of death. A fat bass solo preceded Souls of Black while First Strike Is Deadly succeeded an epic drum solo, but it was the captivating guitar work from Alex Skolnick who’s heralded as one of the best metal guitarists of all time that left me in awe.
The next track was of course Happy Birthday which the whole room belted out in celebration of Chuck’s upcoming birthday. More Than Meets the Eye followed with Over The Wall sparking another memorable story about the band sneaking cameras into an Alcatraz tour to illegally film their first ever music video with no budget whatsoever. The evening came to an end but not before the encore track Into the Pit which got fists pumping. Testament promised that it won’t be as long until the next time and with a new album launching this year, I don’t doubt they’ll be back again soon.
Huge thanks to the Northcote Theatre crew and The Phoenix for having us!
EVERYDAY METAL – SUPPORT LOCAL HEAVY METAL
