Anthrax, Testament, and Death Angel at Best Buy Theater 2/8/12

This Wednesday was thrash metal night in NYC as the Best Buy Theater had three killer thrash bands play one of the best shows, ever. This was the last night of the Anthrax, Testament, Death Angel tour, and the following is documented proof of the awesomeness of it.

The mighty Death Angel opened the show with a killer set. Sadly, it was too fucking short. Six songs only? Damn. I wanted more. Still, they kicked ass despite the short amount of time onstage.
The last song they played was "Claws in so Deep" from their most recent release, last year's killer Relentless Retribution. If you don't own this one yet, you need to get it!!

Next up were the amazing Testament. Now, I been a fan of them since I was in high school. I got into them with Souls of Black and have loved them ever since. To me, Chuck Billy has one of THE best voices in all of thrash metal. And, it sounded just as good live! In fact, the band fucking killed it. They played many of their classics, like "Souls of Black", "Practice What You Preach", "Into the Pit", "Disciples of the Watch" and more. Plus, they also played tracks off their last album, the truly amazing Formation of Damnation, including the title track and the killer "More than Meets the Eyes".
It should be noted that drumming god Gene Hoglan, he of Dark Angel, Death, and Dethklok, was drumming for Testament. Let me tell you, he is a monster on the drums!! I fucking bow down to this man's talent. Now, on this tour, he was pulling double-duty also drumming for Anthrax. But, he only needed to play for Testament, as Charlie Benate was back drums tonight.

Now, it was time for the hometown band to play. Anthrax is, of course, one of the big 4 and is one of my four favorite bands of all time (the other top three are the rest of the Big 4). Anyway, I had always wanted to see them live, and tonight was the perfect night to do just that. Now, I have already declared their last album, Worship Music, as THE best album of last year. I am going to on the record and say this could be concert of the year!

As I said before Charlie made his return playing with the band, and he fucking killed it(!), as did bassist Frank Bello. They had a loss in their lives, but this being NYC meant they had to come back. And, the band just played a killer set! Not only did they play songs of their aforementioned perfect new album, but also classics like "Antisocial", "Medusa", and "Among the Living". One song that surprised me, pleasantly, was the classic "Deathrider" from their debut Fistful of Metal. They said it had been years since they played. Nice!

The pit was insane, in particular for "Caught in a Mosh" and then it got even crazier for "Indians". Scott Ian requested that everyone move, even the non-moshers. And, move we did. I was right in there, jumping and going crazy. The Wardance part of the song was THE fucking highlight for me!! I mean I was fucking pumped!!The encore consisted of a quick version of "I'm the Man" and full versions of "Madhouse", "Metal Thrashing Mad", and "I Am the Law". In all, just an awesome show, and if you missed, well at least you got my words and pics to make you feel a little better! Thrash metal for life!!!

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Death Angel and Testament: New Thrash Masterpieces from Metal Masters

While, many bands have been trying to bring thrash back, with varying degrees of success, it is always nice when the originals come back and just destroy the competition. There in lies the latest work from Death Angel and Testament.

Death Angel's Killing Season , maybe their best work ever. While, the Filipino band were very young when they started and did some great work, Season is a masterpiece. It really shines as a heavy, head ripping, modern day thrash, destined to be, classic.

The musicianship is exemplary. The band shreds and rips through fast, ass-kicking songs, while all the time signer Mark Osegueda carries a great tune. Songs like "Soulless" have a great melody and heaviness about them that shows the best attributes of thrash metal. "Dethroned" and "Lord of Hate" are also great, though the whole album just rips. Plus, it lends itself to multiples listens. You sing along to it, bang your head, or jump into the pit.

Here is the vid to Dethroned:

Meanwhile, Testament's The Formation of Damnation is their best work since Souls of Black. Now, I think that the very heavy Low is a great album, but TFoD is just a great, head-crushing piece of work. Once, again Chuck Billy proves to have one of the best voices in all of thrash metal. The guitar work is exemplary. Songs like the devastating More than Meets the Eyes and the brutal Dangers of the Faithless bury the half-assed wanna-bes. Testament are truly back in full style.

This is More Than Meets the Eyes:

Both albums get a ***** out of ***** and are sure to be ranking amoung the best album of the year.

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