Two nights in a row I visited the storied Palladium in Worcester MA to see a great metal show. I’m not a kid anymore so by the end of the second night I was feeling my age. But until the final chord rang out on this evening I was rejuvenated by the sounds of the metal I grew up on. Not only are these veteran acts some of the premier names in Thrash Metal history, each one is proving vital and important as ever.

4 ARM opened the proceedings and I didn’t honestly know of these Neo-Thrash upstarts before seeing them live. They impressed me with their original song-craft, strong playing chops and good stage presence. I enjoyed their short set and they won the early crowd over too. Especially worthy is lead guitarist Johnny Glovasa and his Dimebag Darrell and Gary Holt inspired fret work. I’ll be checking out more of their music soon too.

I was probably most excited to see Flotsam And Jetsam more than any other band, having seen the other bands on the bill countless times. The Flotz guys had not toured the US widely  in over 15 years since the band has not really toured the US extensively in that time. Between this high-profile tour and the bands killer new album Ugly Noise (Metal Blade), their comeback is in full effect. The band opened with their new albums’ title track, and looking at the crowd, everybody was feeling it immediately. Lead singer Eric A.K. is an age-defying marvel vocally. His powerhouse delivery untouched by time. The songs’ swelling intensity sent the crowd over the edge and the crowd surfers and moshers started in earnest. Lead guitarist Michael Gilbert shredded on the solos to led the charge from stage right. The band sounded really fresh and tight, as if they had been on the road a long time. Despite their short set, the band managed to kick out the old jams like ‘Iron Tears’, ‘Escape From Within’ and ‘Hammerhead’.  Another new track, the thrashy ‘Giddy Up’ fit right in with a great beat from drummer Kelly David-Smith. Ed Carlson also was killing it on guitar all set too. New bass player Jeff/Seven held down the low-end for his part and didn’t miss a note. Of course when Gilbert played the familiar intro to ‘No Place For Disgrace”, a huge cheer went up. Welcome back fellas, it’s been too long!

There was a lot of mystery surrounding Overkill on this night, having canceled the night before in New York. Bobby Blitz had walking pneumonia and talk before the show said he might not be able to go, or possibly the band would play an abbreviated set. However, if you know anything about Blitz and Overkill, these guys have that “never say die” attitude that made them one of the greats of the genre. So lo and behold, the band came out ready to crush at show time! Opening with ‘Come And Get It’, Bobby looked bad, but sounded amazing! He was white a ghost, but he somehow hit every note in his range and performed like his usual maniacal self. The band played on one of the coolest stage sets I’ve ever seen the group have. A slick drum riser and really cool lighting effects worked well. playing a set dominated by songs that epitomize the Overkill style: tight, evil and nasty such as fan favorites ‘Rotten To The Core’ and ‘Wrecking Crew’. Lead guitarist Dave Linsk (Speed Kill Hate) has been one of the stars of the group since he joined and his playing was particularly on fire this night. You had to admire the tenacity and professionalism of Blitz not to quit. As usual, I lost my shit when they played ‘Elimination’, as I head banged myself into oblivion and a neck injury. As bassist D.D. Verni walloped his bass to the opening notes of ‘Fuck You’, you could not be happier if you were a fan of this band from the show they put on tonight. The band pulled out of the tour before the next show due to illness, which is a shame.

Testament‘s huge banner went up to a roar that shook the building. They had a stage production that was worthy of the greats of metal such as Metallica, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. A huge drum riser was unveiled, along with a massive a catwalk for the band to run up and down on. When the intro came on, the crowd went crazy as each member of the band came on. In a way Testament does have a super group aura about them that they may not have had in the early days. When Eric Peterson jammed the intro to ‘Rise Up’ the crowd started moshing and they basically didn’t stop moving all night long. The tandem of Peterson and Alex Skolnick is as potent as the best in metal now, and they traded licks and riffs with approving smiles to each other. Front man Chuck Billy sounded strong, but definitely spent most of the set towards the back of the stage. At the top of it all was Gene “The Atomic Clock” Hoglan, he of one million other bands. All of the drum nerds in the room oohed and ahhed at every extra paradiddle and 300 BPM blast beat kick Gene did. The constant flashing strobe light action matched with the big stage set was a little over done, the rest of the night.

Next track ‘More Than Meets The Eye’ started a night full of sing-a-longs by the crowd, led by Chuck. As always, he did is mic-stand air guitar thing. The set list was masterfully put together with a nice blend of newer songs and classic, old material. Songs like ‘Burnt Offerings’ and ‘Into The Pit’ sounded immense and dangerous with Skolnick sizzling on his lead work. Having just filmed a DVD the night before, the band sounded sharp on tracks such as ‘Trial By Fire’ and ‘The Haunting’. Bassist Greg Christian did a great job of locking in with Hoglan when he needed to, giving many tracks a groove other thrash bands lack. After the band played ‘Disciples Of the Watch’, Chuck took a minute to apologize to the crowd for his vocal performance, which he called “rough”. This took me by surprise, but it’s true the band played some more of their straight forward, less melodic numbers. On a few songs, instead of a melody line Chuck just growled, but it sounded good to me. With Gene back in the fold, I was hoping to hear a song off of 1996’s Demonic album. Still, by the time the masterful three song encore of ‘D.N.R.’, ‘3 Days Of Darkness’ and ‘The Formation Of Damnation’ was over, it was hard to argue against this being one of the best shows in their history.

Testament, Overkill, Flotsam And Jetsam & 4ARM
The Palladium, Worcester MA
Words & Photos: Keith Chachkes/Echoes In The Well
February 16, 2013

Testament – Facebook
Overkill – Facebook
Flotsam And Jetsom – Facebook
4ARM – Facebook