The American thrash metal band Testament did a single show in the Netherlands during the festival season, which took place in the Burgerweeshuis in Deventer of all places. And as I had never seen Testament live, I went to Deventer on this Thursday evening.There was a single support slot, that was filled by the Dutch band Deluzion – a more or less local band. They play a mixture of thrash and death metal that isn’t original or very good. In part this was due to the long(ish) songs. The Alice Cooper cover of Poison was interesting but only the chorus was really recognisable.

Then after the stage was set-up, Testament kicked off their set with the classic song “The Preacher”. The hall was filled completely – maybe even too full – and it was becoming really hot, very quickly. The nearly classic line-up of the early days had been restored some time age and only Louie Clemente was replaced by the Brit Nik Barker (who is also in Benediction – when will their new album surface?). They fired classic after classic with some songs of the later albums, such as Low or DNR, in rapid succession. Only the ballad track The Legacy formed a bit of rest in the set. Obviously this stuff was way too easy for Nik Barker as Testament was never about complex drums. The spot light was often filled by Alex Skolnik’s lead guitar work and Chuck Billy’s stage presence (not only due to his massive physique). Chuck’s vocals were mostly clean, contrary to most of the recent recordings where he used a grunted style. IMO the clean style fits much better. The bassist (Greg Christian) and rhythm guitarist (Eric Peterson) played their parts mostly standing in the back of the stage, seemingly enjoying themselves. All in all a good show at a fairly high entrance fee of € 25.

Setlist:

• The Preacher
• The New Order
• The Haunting
• Electric Crown
• Sins Of Omission
• Low
• DNR
• Three Days In Darkness
• Practice What You Preach
• Souls Of Black
• The Legacy
• Into The Pit
• Over The Wall
  Encores
• Eerie Inhabitants (not played, but was on the setlist)
• Alone In The Dark
• Disciples Of The Watch