Testament Koko Camden 30-11-12



Sometimes you wonder what makes a band play the music they play.Tonight I wondered why Xerath play music if you could call it that.A drummer that seems to play his own song,a guitarist that riffs away to himself and a singer(!)that you can't understand a single word he growls.But you can his between song talk!!
A truly dreadful 25 minutes.
Malefice were only a little better,a few riffs that worked and again vocals that were again unrecogniseable and all with a slightly shouty edge!!

Thank god for Testament who over the course of 85 minutes  were simply superb.The crowd suddenly appeared and the downstairs pit exploded as they hit the stage and didn't stop.
Here's what they played.

Rise Up
The New Order
The Preacher
Native Blood
True American Hate
More Than Meets the Eye
Dark Roots of Earth
Into the Pit
Practice What You Preach
Over the Wall
Alone in the Dark
Disciples of the Watch
Encore:
D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)
3 Days in Darkness
The Formation of Damnation


Playing a set that had the 4 best songs from new cd "Dark Roots Of The Earth" that all sit comfortably with the classics this was top notch with an excellent sound and light set up too.
Led by the bear of a man Chuck Billy who was in great form and still plays guitar on his short microphone stand like a man possessed.
Greg Christian on bass holds it all together and stand in drummer Mark Hernandez was simply phenomenal.He was an octopus and his double bass work was world class.
Up front they have 2 guitarists that work so well together.Eric Peterson riffs like a demon and nice to see him taking up some lead work too.Alex Skolnick is a favourite of mine as his work is always highly melodic with a slight classical slant which amongst the mayhem sits so well.His solo on one of my top 10 tracks of all time "Practice What You Preach"was as fantastic as always.
Worth the admission money alone.
They didn't really go off for an encore break just kept going as classic after classic pounded us into submission.
As it ended and I left my perch on the second level I saw one guy leaving from the pit covered in sweat with a big welt and cut under his eye.
Sounds like the perfect gig!!

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