Thrash metal was born in the Bay Area of San Francisco forty or so years ago and the Bay Strikes Back tour is taking three of the best second wave bands across the nation yet again: Death Angel, Exodus and Testament. I've seen all three live before but none since 2015, so I was eager to catch up. Thrash metal is going through quite the renaissance right now and Exodus in particular are at the top of their game. This ought to have been a blistering gig to kick off the second leg of the tour and, while not everything worked to plan, enough did that it was highly worthwhile.
The bad news going in was that Death Angel's tour bus broke down this morning, so they couldn't make it to the Van Buren. They'll be joining the tour tomorrow night in Albuquerque. I've been a fan of theirs since their first album, The Ultra-Violence in 1987, but seeing them again just wasn't meant to be. Nobody replaced them.
Fortunately Exodus were there, because Persona Non Grata was one of my top dozen albums of last year, across the entire rock/metal spectrum. On record, they're as good right now as they've ever been and I'm very happy to report that they're blistering on stage too. What was notable is how much they were obviously enjoying the simple act of playing live, grinning their way through the set and duelling with each other for fun.
They opened with The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves), a punchy track from their new album, but then launched right into my favourite Exodus track of them all, the vicious A Lesson in Violence, from the other end of their career, their legendary debut, Bonded by Blood. That was far earlier than I expected it to be in their set, but they ripped through it like they were thirty years younger. Maybe that's partly because Steve "Zetro" Souza is as full of energy as he ever was and I've always felt that he was the most memorable vocalist the band ever had. It's great to see him back.
Seven of the eleven tracks Exodus played were taken from these two albums from the bookends of their career and I couldn't have been happier. There's good stuff to be found in between, some of which made their setlist: the ever-popular The Toxic Waltz, of course, which generated the biggest pit of the set, not only because former singer Rob Dukes joined them on stage to swap verses with Souza, and Deathamphetamine. But for me, this was all about the oldest songs, like Piranha and Strike of the Beast, and the newest, the most impressive of which was The Years of Death and Dying. Exodus kept me very happy indeed.
Testament kept me happy too, though they did initially disappoint me with the news that Dave Lombardo, the best thrash drummer in the genre, wasn't going to be manning their kit, because he's on tour with the Misfits right now. His replacement for the first six dates is Chris Dovas of Seven Spires and I have to admit that he impressed me considerably. On the fastest numbers, his double bass work was reminiscent of Lombardo's and that's a heck of a compliment.
In fact, the highlights of Testament's set for me came whenever Dovas set a fast rhythm in motion behind Alex Skolnick's solos. Perhaps the best was in WWIII, a track from their most recent album, the excellent Titans of Creation, but Night of the Witch stood out too. While I didn't rate Titans of the Creation as highly as the latest Exodus or Flotsam and Jetsam albums, it's a strong one and it explains why they're still headlining over a band as hot right now as Exodus.
Chuck Billy reminded us that it's been thirty-five years since the release of The Legacy, their killer debut, and I was there when they toured it back in 1987, at my very first gig, supporting Anthrax as they promoted Among the Living. I saw those two bands again a quarter of a century later on this side of the pond, coincidentally with Death Angel opening for them, and here I am again watching Testament a further decade on. They're perennials.
They waited until late in their set to visit that album, but they wrapped up with a few of the oldest songs in their repertoire and I was fine with that. A fantastic First Strike is Deadly was followed by a strong Over the Wall and, after a brief nod to their follow-up album with the regular Into the Pit, they wrapped up with an outstanding Alone in the Dark. All these songs were highly welcome and very well received.
Unlike Exodus, Testament trawled in tracks from a wide variety of their albums, eight of them in all, and, given that the pit rarely slowed down, I guess that's exactly what the sizeable crowd wanted. The best received may have been Native Blood, but that could be partly because Billy is Native American and he acknowledged just how many other Natives were in the crowd. I swear it might have been 40% and I'm always shocked at how diverse the audiences here are, especially at thrash gigs. Sure, I saw Testament in the UK in 1987, but almost everyone was a young white man. That was absolutely not the case tonight.
I was looking forward to seeing Death Angel and I was looking forward to seeing Dave Lombardo lead the beat for Testament, but those disappointments were overridden by the quality of these two veteran bands, one perhaps better than ever and the other revitalised and vibrant. It was a very good night.
Setlists:
Exodus:
The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves)
A Lesson in Violence
Blood In, Blood Out
The Years of Death and Dying
Deathamphetamine
Blacklist
Piranha
Prescribing Horror
Bonded by Blood
The Toxic Waltz (with Rob Dukes)
Strike of the Beast
Testament:
Rise Up
The New Order
The Pale King
Children of the Next Level
Practice What You Preach
WWIII
D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)
Native Blood
Night of the Witch
The Formation of Damnation
First Strike is Deadly
Over the Wall
Into the Pit
Alone in the Dark
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