Dark Roots of Trash: Testament and Exodus make the Z7 tremble

At the end of May 7, thrash metal veterans Exodus and Testament performed at the most popular metal bar in Switzerland, the Z2015 in Pratteln. Despite being as respected in the scene as Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, they've never seen the full scale of success, despite the fact that Exodus, formed by Kirk Hammett and drummer Tom Hunting, are considered by many to be the real innovators of the metal subgenre. which began in the early 80s in the Bay Area on the US west coast and soon began to conquer the world. «Exodus» was co-founded by Kirk Hammett, who then went to Metallica after the ousting of a certain Dave Mustaine (who famously founded Megedeth). A few years later, Exodus was joined by Steve Souza of Testament (then called Legacy), and was replaced by a certain Chuck Billy. And Exodus guitarist Gary Holt is now a permanent member of Slayer and follows in the big footsteps of Jeff Hannemann, who died in 2013. So all in all, that evening was a big class reunion and the two pioneers of thrash metal shook the Z7 to its foundations!

Old school thrash enthusiasts got their money's worth this evening. In the dressing room of some of the fans, one could think that they had been transported back to 1986. The melodic metal band "Lotrify" from Baden had already played earlier than announced and so unfortunately a number of visitors, including the author of these lines, missed the performance. After a break it got a lot harder and at 20:15 p.m. Exodus drummer John Hunting took a seat behind his kit to a great deal of cheering and off we went! This unfortunately without the longtime guitarist Gary Holt, who was replaced by "Heathen" due to commitments in "Slayer" by collar Lum. The clearly aged and worn-out Steve Souza, who returned to the band about a year ago, opened the evening with "Black 13" from the current album "Blood in, Blood out". The five gentlemen are really loud, but neither the sound nor the light sets the band in the limelight at the beginning. The sound is dull and the light is barely perceptible. Most of the fans didn't let that bother them and celebrated a metal party that still had a lot of room for improvement. The riffs on the thrash hits «Iconoclasm» and «Children Of A Worthless God» are also on point and the band seems to be trying, even Souza, who tries to heat up the mood with lots of gestures, but somehow the sparks don't jump over.

With "Salt In The Wound" it was proudly mentioned that Kirk Hammett had recorded a solo, with the groovy "Blacklist" from the 2004 comeback album "Tempo Of The Damned" the ice finally seemed to break in the almost filled Z7. The sound engineers had also tweaked a few controls and fortunately the band, albeit a bit late, really warmed up and towards the end with "Body Harvest" really pushed the gas pedal again. After a good hour of thrash party, the audience thanks them with passionate applause. A nice mix of all creative works, which the audience owed with "circle pits" and a "wall of death". Time spent with thrash metal's longest-serving and most influential exponents was rough and flew by. The changeover promised great things for the appearance of Testament. There was a metallic stage set with a huge banner, strobe lights and two illuminated Testament skulls in the background. All of this provided the right atmosphere right from the start. The lights went out, sirens wailed, red spotlights flitted through the hall and gradually Gene Hoglan (drums), Steve di Giorgio (bass), Alex Skolnick (guitars), Eric Peterson (guitars) and finally Chuck Billy entered (Vocals) left the stage to frenetic applause.

Will - Live - Z7 Pratteln (CH)

The band was there right from the start, even the happy, relaxed facial expressions of the musicians spoke a completely different language than with Exodus and the sound was well mixed and went straight to the twelve. Chuck Billy had his micro tomahawk in hand as always and a really big grin on his face. Throughout the entire performance, he held onto his idiosyncratic micro-mount and his euphoric imitation of guitar playing shows that Chuck is in his element. The other musicians are in no way inferior to Billy, long-term band member and main songwriter Eric Peterson casually shreds his signature Dean-Z guitar on the hip, while his colleague Alex Skolnick often raised his almost classic ESP into the air with a relaxed gesture while his fingers raced over the strings. The coolest pig of the evening was without a doubt bassist Steve DiGiorgio with his almost eccentrically shaped, fretless Thor bass, with which he waved around like a weapon and on which he pounded relentlessly. His poses are the coolest and not because he needed them to compensate for a lack of skill. On the contrary, with DiGiorgio, drummer Gene Hoglan, Skolnick and Peterson, some of the best metal musicians of the moment are on stage together. And you can tell!

The chemistry of the band members and the interaction is right and the five gentlemen clearly have fun with their performance - which really gets the audience involved. After just a few minutes of “Rise Up”, the fans were bawling along with the chorus and the sound meter on the wall sometimes showed over 100 decibels. That's how it should be at a good metal concert! Testament had announced that the Dark Roots of Earth Tour II would play material from their first three albums, The Legacy (1987), The New Order (1988) and Practice What You Preach (1989). Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, there weren't that many tracks and so the set list was similar to that of the live album «Dark Roots Of Thrash». There were many thrash metal highlights from the band's early days and a few pearls from the current album to celebrate. The quintet celebrated the title songs of "The New Order" and "Practice What You Preach" as well as the atmospheric but no less heavy "Trial By Fire". The approximately 85-minute set was rounded off with other thrash hits like "First Strike Is Deadly" or "Souls Of Black" from the album of the same name.

Testament also offered a great mix from all eras of the band. In contrast to Exodus, the performance on stage was gigantic and the joy of playing was noticeable in each individual. The time passed far too quickly and the evening will have left a lasting impression on everyone. In the end, both bands understood how to successfully and professionally entertain their fans with a good show. The gestures and poses in Testament seemed more real and less routine, the energy came not only from the volume, but above all from the believable and energetic fun in the performance by Billy, Peterson, DiGiorgio and Co. With the elemental thrash force from San Francisco, you got the impression at first that the guys wanted to get their set over with as quickly as possible so that they could devote themselves to other things backstage. Nevertheless, Exodus convinced with ultra-hard and yet grooving mid-tempo thrash with crazy tempo and brute riffs. "New-old" shouter "Zetro" Souza has also integrated excellently into the band again.

Will - Live - Z7 Pratteln (CH)

Setlist Exodus:

1. Black 13
2. Blood in, blood out
3. Iconoclasm
4. Children of a Worthless God
5. Body harvest
6. Blacklist
7. Bonded by Blood
8. Strike of the Beast
9. The Toxic Waltz

Testament setlist:

1. Rise Up
2. Native blood
3. More Than Meets the Eye
4. The Preacher
5. First Strike Is Deadly
6. Souls of Black
7. Erie Inhabitants
8. The New Order
9. Trial by Fire
10. Into the pit
11. Practice What You Preach

Encore:

12. DNR (Do Not Resuscitate)
13. 3 days in darkness
14. Disciples of the Watch

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