EDIT* This tour was rescheduled for Spring 2022, and will feature the whole line up of Death Angel, Exodus and Testament instead of only Death Angel and Testament. We are THRILLED despite the reschedule!
Due to the mess that was 2020 it’s no shocker that some bands are trying to make up for a whole year and a half of missed tour dates and reschedules. TESTAMENT is an easy add to that. They released yet another stick-to-the-roots thrash album in April of 2020 titled “Titans of Creation.” The guys recently announced their Bay Area Strikes Back tour with Exodus and Death Angel. HOWEVER, Exodus will not be playing the November 11th Vegas date at House of Blues. Which is totally a bummer, but the guys in Exodus are playing Psycho Fest so if you’re catching that then, well, there you go.
TESTAMENT
Testament is one of those bands that I cannot get enough of. They’d easily fit on a second tier of the Big Four if there was one. They just keep going and going and even though vocalist Chuck Billy’s voice has changed through the years; they have never strayed from the sound that thrash metal is known for. The last time I caught them was at Brooklyn Bowl opening for Anthrax; but I might as well have seen them again when Metal Allegiance came to House of Blues. (Watching Chuck Billy and Alex Skolnic on stage, well… Testament. And they played Testament songs anyway so there’s that too.)
DEATH ANGEL
I have old fliers mixed in my stuff from when Death Angel played some smaller venues out here such as their 2011 run when they came to the (now gone) Cheyenne Saloon. Pretty sure my friends in Babilos opened up that show. I don’t think they’ve returned to Vegas since 2016 when they played Las Vegas Country Saloon (LVCS); which is yet another venue that is now gone. At any rate, those guys are another band that I would say are severely underrated as far as metal goes in general. (Maybe not so much reviewed thrash but the bigger umbrella of metal in general-yes.) Death Angel released a compilation of music this year as well titled “The Enigma Years: 1987-1990).” It’s a 48 tracked album, and roughly four hours long.
Nuclear Blast’s European store has this as a complete box set with 4 CDs; so that’s pretty fucking cool if you’re a collector of that sort of thing. I was also able to find it on Amazon, but it looks like it is only an import item. Check out some of the album before and pick up the set if you dig it!
Possible Additional Openers?
It has yet to be announced who will be replacing EXODUS for the Vegas date. My husband thinks they’ll either pop on a local act or more than likely it will only be Testament and Death Angel. For some of us, that’s saddening. Especially since the tour name, “The Bay Area Strikes Back!”, is kind of a coined term that largely includes Exodus. (I may or may not have indulged in the Murder in the Front Row documentary a few times… ha!) At any rate, I’m definitely salty that Exodus is skipping Vegas. But Testament and Death Angel are well worth the ticket for me and I’m excited to see these thrash loves of mine grace my home city once again.
See you in the pit!
For Tickets click HERE