Thrash metal band Testament, based out of the Bay Area, brought the Brotherhood of the Snake to a sold-out crowd and the only Southern California date to the new House of Blues Anaheim on May 18th.
In January of this year. I had the honor of photographing Chuck Billy and Alex Skolnick during Metal Allegiance a Tribute to the Fallen Heroes during NAMM 2017 weekend. Their stage presence demands your attention. Four months later I, again, had the honor of watching Alex Skolnick shred the guitar and Chuck Billy light up the stage with his personality, air guitar playing and great vocals along with the only original member/rhythm guitarist Eric Peterson, bassist Steve Di Giorgio, and drummer Gene Hoglan……Testament.
The boys didn’t waste any time opening the set with Brotherhood of the Snake off the self-titled album. The main floor was packed with no room to move. It parted like the sea making room for the huge mosh pit that stayed throughout the night. Followed by Rise Up off Dark Roots of the Earth and rounding out the first three songs with the Pale King off the self-titled album Brotherhood of the Snake via Nuclear Blast records.
Three decades later Testament has stood the test of time, looking out in the crowd seeing fans of all ages. The seventeen plus song set included phenomenal solos by guitarist Alex Skolnick, rhythm guitarist Eric Peterson, bassist Steve Di Giorgio and a drum solo by Gene Hoglan took us down memory lane. Songs included Electric Crown off The Ritual, Throne of Thorns off Dark Roots of the Earth, First Strike is Deadly off The Legacy album and the instrumental Urotsukidôji from the album Low – to name a few, including five songs off the recent release Brotherhood of the Snake, Centuries of Suffering, Stronghold and Seven Seals. Frontman Chuck Billy kept the fans entertained with little bits of history from back in the day.
Closing out the show with Practice What You Preach off the self-titled album and Over the Wall from their first release, 1987’s The Legacy, thanking the fans for 30 years of support.
This was the 35th of 37 shows on the North America tour which lasted seven weeks. Testament will head to Europe, South American and ending in Central America starting the middle of July through September. Catch one of their shows, you won’t be disappointed.
Testament is already working on a new album with a possible 2018 release. Hope to see them back out on tour soon!
Setlist:
Brotherhood of the Snake
Rise Up
The Pale King
Centuries of Suffering
Electric Crown
Into the Pit
Low
Thorne of Thorns
Stronghold
Eyes of Wrath
First Strike is Deadly
Urotsukidôji
Souls of Black
Seven Seals
The New Order
Encore:
Practice What You Preach
Over the Wall
All photos by Tammy Greene
©2017. Please DO NOT copy or use without permission.
