Testament @ The Prince ofWales, Melbourne (07/02/2007)

Thu 8th Feb, 2007 in Gig Reviews

St Kilda anticipated the return of its cultural and music festival after a two-year absence. However, just around the corner from the foreshore, the iconic Prince of Wales was packed to capacity with denim-clad, long haired hordes of metal fans, many of whom had been waiting over 20 years to see the band they’d turned out for – San Francisco’s legendary reunited thrashers Testament.

After impressive sets by Melbourne’s own Dreadnaught and Alarum, fans didn’t mind waiting over an hour for Testament to hit the stage (what was one more hour after all) as they entertained themselves at the bar and discussed all things old-school metal; many revelling in the disbelief that their heroes growing up had finally reformed and decided to tour Australia for the first time. What would the set list include? Have they still got it? Is guitarist Alex Skolnick as good as ever? All questions were later found to be answered with authority.

The Prince went dim, and as a chant of “Tes-ta-ment” echoed throughout the jam-packed Prince band room, the figures of Eric Peterson, Alex Skolnick, Dave Christian, Nick Barker and the towering giant that is Chuck Billy emerged onto the stage and shredded straight into 1988’s ‘The Preacher’. This was no doubt to be a celebration of old school Testament, what with the original line up back together.

‘The New Order’ and ‘The Haunting’ followed soon after and Chuck declared that they were excited to finally be in Australia after 24 years. The band later blitzed through ‘Trial By Fire’ and 1987’s, ahead of it’s time, ‘Over The Wall’ whilst proceedings really started to heat up in the pit with bodies flying left right and centre.

Crowd surfing is synonymous with any thrash show. However, given the Prince band room’s lay-out, once keen punters surfed to the front they had nowhere to go but onto the stage. The band was really cool about this (one of few metal bands to have a serious down to earth connection with their fans), so long as nobody smashed Alex’s floor console! A tragedy that would have been indeed as Alex illustrated exactly why he was hailed as a virtuoso all those years ago, prior to leaving Testament in his early 20s in order to explore other forms of music.

Skolnick had the crowd mesmerised with every note he played, none more so than during the soulful ballad ‘The Legacy’. The melodic guitar work was complemented well by Chuck’s vocals, which haven’t diminished with age (or size!). He has been the missing piece of the puzzle in many respects and truly takes the band to new heights with his dazzling fretwork.

Nick Barker (formerly of Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir) was a perfect replacement for the injured Louie Clemente, whilst Eric Peterson and the always mysterious Dave Christan held their own as they pumped out some classic metal to an almost perfect sound at the Prince – clear and loud!

Of course, there were some ‘newer’ songs sprinkled throughout the set from 1999’s The Gathering album which were all received well by the crowd and perhaps served as an indication of what to expect from their forthcoming album.

However, the biggest roars were reserved for the songs of Alex Skolnick’s time with the band and that roar became deafening when the band presented ‘Practice What You Preach’ (it is to Testament what ‘Master of Puppets’ is to Metallica) and the adulation on the faces of the fans forced Chuck to declare that they would be back next year. It is still unclear how long this incarnation of the line-up will be around and perhaps it was a spur of the moment thought but it was a nice one nonetheless!

With moshing having slowed down somewhat (no doubt due to a lack of energy and too much beer), Testament took it upon themselves to restore order to the house playing the aggressive ‘Into The Pit’ and prompting many to do just that.

The band continued to treat the crowd to some old school thrash such as ‘Disciples Of The Watch’ before heading off-stage and returning with even more of the same – much to the delight of everybody. It was a week night but as with all metal gigs, work or school (or unemployment) are the last things on your mind when you’re caught in a mosh!

Chuck joked with the crowd and asked “has anybody got any weed – I don’t smell anything going around?” Although nobody answered his calls (not immediately anyway) Skolnick played the intro solo to 1987’s ‘Alone In The Dark’ and the band continued to shred before closing the night with ‘Burnt Offerings’, also off the band’s debut album.

With that having been said fans cannot wait to hear some new material scheduled for release later this year. There is no doubt that heavy metal is enjoying a strong resurgence the world over and the return of Testament could not have come at a better time. Many claimed that it was the best thrash gig they’ve been to and the band then hung out with fans after the show, no doubt getting big Chuck high in the process!

I just hope this incarnation of the band sticks around and the boys from San Francisco continue to practice what they preach for a long time to come.