Testament
Show date: April 5, 2008
Starland Ballroom
Sayreville, N.J.

By: Sian Flinders

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Testament still practices what it preaches, 21 years later and counting. Who could have known that the title of its 1987 debut album, The Legacy, would be the best description of the band today? Every damn fan at the Starland Ballroom, that’s who.

On April 5, the Sayreville, N.J., venue welcomed back Testament in decadent glory. It was practically the band’s original lineup, save for drummer Paul Bostaph. (However, he’s no stranger to thrash, having played with Slayer in the mid-’80s and, more recently, with Exodus and Systematic.) Guitarist Alex Skolnick delivered his characteristic solo spectaculars and served as the highlight of the night. What made them even more amazing is that he wrote many of them in his late teens (such as Apocalyptic City from The Legacy)—and in 2008, they still define the thrash genre. Fellow guitarist Eric Peterson and bassist Greg Christian sealed the deal, making the sound tighter than the jeans that Testament fans wore in 1987. Last but not least, Chuck Billy was a whole lot of man up on the Starland stage—and doing great after battling a rare form of cancer in recent years.

The set ran for close to two hours, pushing sound ordinances to the limit and covering multiple tracks from nearly every album in the band’s catalog. At first one would think that the list would only include songs from records on which Skolnick appeared, but D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate), Three Days in Darkness and Low proved those assumptions wrong. Alone in the Dark, Into the Pit and Practice What You Preach were a visit to the old school that gave fans of all ages a trip back to the earlier days of Testament.

Photo courtesy of Adrenaline PR

What makes a Testament show unforgettable is how natural these heavy metal vets look every time they set foot onstage. Few frontmen can appear as comfortable as Billy; fewer seem as happy to be there as they were two decades ago. Even a tough guy like him has a soft spot when it comes to thanking fans and crediting them for the band’s success through the years.

Starland welcomed the badass boys of trash onstage with bright lights, bringing attention to Skolnick on the far left and Billy at the very front. The venue’s sound system was perfectly clear and crisp with not one note gone amiss, and its preservation of Testament’s sound will likely yield yet another return performance by the band.

Again, Testament succeeded in nearly selling out the room. The only empty spot in the house was probably the bathroom since nobody wanted to miss a minute of the set. A huge crowd packed the floor. Among the normal black sea of T-shirts were tattered, faded gray ones, signifying the presence of longtime fans rocking first-generation Testament merchandise. But what stood out the most about the gray-shirt-wearing fans was the fact that some were accompanied by their own kids.

The fiery pit of a mosh early in the set was due to none other than “Into the Pit,” where half of the floor was engulfed in sweat and swinging fists. Skolnick, Peterson and Christian were feeling the crowd, headbanging along with the song’s crunchy riffs. As for Billy, he just stood at center stage with an approving grin, overlooking the chaotic circle below.

Treacherous pits followed later on in the night, especially when Testament unleashed “More Than Meets the Eye,” a track from new album The Formation of Damnation (which has been long awaited since 1999 set The Gathering). No one could resist rocking out to the song, then ravaging the merch booth afterwards and cleaning out the band’s swag promoting Damnation. The sophisticated, polished performance of “More Than Meets the Eye” reminded fans that Testament is in it for the long haul. Times change and years pass, but the sound remains the same without going stale. Even though nearly a decade passed between its last two albums, any fan at Starland on April 5 will tell you it was well worth the wait. What lies in Testament’s future now? More decadence, more glory and a trail of tears from any poor imitation. Two things will survive the apocalypse—cockroaches and Testament. And our money’s on the band to outlast the bugs.

testamentlegions.com

Sian Flinders has been dyeing her hair blonde for so long, it has overtaken her natural color. The fact that she is a third-degree black belt is Tae Kwon Do had absolutely no influence on the editing of this review, save for how our fingers trembled over the keyboard.