You have to hand it to the promoters at the Palladium, they have made it into the premier thrash and extreme metal venue in New England. Any decent tour doing the rounds eventually goes through the place and last night was no exception.
I got there near the end of 4 Arm's set and the place was already packed. The band sounded ok but I would have to hear some more to judge them properly. They did go down very well though so maybe their trip from Australia is paying dividends.
Flotsam and Jetsam to me were the wild card on the bill. Well known as the band who gave Jason Newsted to Metallica they amount to a lot more then this. Truth be told I don't have many of their albums but I was familiar with the 2 they did from No Place for Disgrace. A brief five or six song set with a promising newie thrown in.
Next up were Overkill who I had never seen before. A band who continues to release really stong new material. They mixed up the old with the new opening with Come and Get It from the recent cd, heads down old school thrash. Other newies included Electric Rattlesnake and Ironbound and for the long time fans they got Elimination, Fuck You and Wrecking Crew. The set felt a little short and I would have liked to have heard more, maybe next time when they play a headline set.
On to the main event. I saw Testament in the same venue just over a year ago on tour with Anthrax. Billed as a co-headline it was the east coasters who closed the bill so I was intrigued to see Testament on what is clearly their show. Let's get the bad out of the way and say that Chuck Billy had vocal problems which he alluded to early on in the set. The guy is a trooper and didn't want to cancel and he gave it his all helped by the boisterous and liquid refreshed mob.
Now the good, everything else! Opening with Rise Up from the new Dark Roots of Earth cd the band played a fantastic sixteen or so song set cementing why they are one of the best thrash bands on the planet at the minute. They really do have a fantastic back catalogue and just look at some of the songs they slipped into the set that they didn't play the last time I saw them: Practice What You Preach, The Haunting, Trial By Fire and Burnt Offerings. Material of this quality would be a staple of most bands shows. The big surprise was 3 cuts from The Gathering which is the overlooked gem of the catalogue and one of the best metal cds from the late 90's.
So a fantastic and very loud night. Great line-up and killer musicianship (Gene Hoglan has to be seen to be believed) all for $28. I don't know how many shows are left on the tour but you'd be a fool to miss it.
Richie
http://www.4arm.net/
http://www.flotsam-and-jetsam.com/
http://wreckingcrew.com/Ironbound/
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
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