Testament @ Manning Bar,Sydney (08/02/07)

Fri 9th Feb, 2007 in Gig Reviews

The Manning Bar is no more. It has been destroyed and left a smoking ruin after a scorching display of thrash metal by 80s’ legends Testament. While the building still actually stands, the exaggeration is understandable, given Thursday nights riff-fest of a performance.

This tour features the original line-up of Chuck Billy (vocals), Eric Peterson (guitar), Alex Skolnick (guitar) & Greg Christian (bass). Drummer Louie Clemente suffered a hand injury last year and has been replaced by drumming maestro Nick Barker (ex-Cradle Of Filth, also Dimmu Borgir, and the brilliant Brujeria).

Testament played with wild excitement and sheer gusto, which was matched by the enthusiam of a deliourous crowd, consisting mainly of old-school metallers in their 30’s and 40’s. The range of black t-shirts in the crowd was um… testament to the metal tastes of everyone. There were Slayer shirts, Megadeth, Kreator, Metallica, Anthrax, Sepultura, Cannibal Corpse, Nile, Deicide, and a shitload more. Great to see.

The set was chock-full of Testament classics like The New Order, So Many Lies, and The Haunting. The sonic onslaught of Disciples Of The Watch pulsated from the Marshall stacks as the crowd almost headbanged in unison. And the melodic thrash of Electric Crown was simply amazing, damn entertaining metal.

The crowd was treated to some songs off 1999s The Gathering, with the pounding D.N.R., True Believer and the thrilling carnage of Three Days in Darkness. 

The manic insanity of Into The Pit tore the roof off the Manning Bar, and if that wasn’t enough, an intense Practice What You Preach had the walls shaking. They were then knocked down with the devastating Burnt Offerings. And after a set lasting about 1.5 hours Testament left the crowd to climb out of the rubble that was the Manning Bar and spill out onto the street in wide-eyed amazement.