Testament @ Jailbreak 2024

2024-08-19

Still practicing what they preach, as if you'd had any doubt

(Review + photo: Magnus Jørgensen)

Arguably the biggest name in thrash metal outside of the big four, and Testament are better than any of them. Yes, I just wrote that. And in concert, Chuck Billy and the guys always deliver. I've seen them a lot of times, and even the weakest shows have been rock fucking solid. Their repertoire of classics and brilliant newer tracks is impressive (and I'm counting "The Gathering" as a new record; I don't care that it's 25 years old), and I can't wait to see what they're bringing tonight.

So I have mixed feelings when Billy announces that they're only playing songs off the first two full-lengths, "The Legacy" ('87) and "The New Order" ('88). Sure, it means we're in for a fucking party as they plow through the old hits and a load of deeper cuts – and a party is exactly what we're getting. But as good as the first two albums are, they also do get a bit repetitive.

Though the Bay Area veterans' performance is absolutely impeccable, the concert suffers a bit. A few newer songs would have shaken things up. And it IS weird seeing Testament and not getting that otherwise regular helping of "D.N.R." and "Three Days in Darkness".

But I do feel like a spoiled child for complaining as we smash through classics like "The Haunting", "Disciples of the Watch", "Into the Pit", and, of course, the inevitable "Over the Wall", making for the festival's biggest mosh pit so far. And it's rad to be reminded of the iron-hard solidity of lesser-referenced songs like "Apocalyptic City" and "The Preacher".

The sound is sharp, and there are smiles all around, beers all around, and legendary thrash all around. I will never tire of watching and hearing that guitar duo of Skolnick/Peterson send a crowd into thrash heaven. What more could you ask for? Well, apart from aforementioned "The Gathering" cuts, maybe also "Legions of the Dead".

Rating: 5 out of 6

Genre: Thrash metal
Venue: Jailbreak, outdoor stage
Date: Fri., Aug. 16th, 2024

Setlist:

  1. Eerie Inhabitants
  2. The New Order
  3. Apocalyptic City
  4. The Haunting
  5. The Preacher
  6. A Day of Reckoning
  7. Do or Die
  8. First Strike Is Deadly
  9. Disciples of the Watch
  10. Over the Wall
  11. Into the Pit
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