Austin’s Fuel Room presents… Testament
After a mild winter in Chicagoland, tonight was an exception with bitter cold and snow. This did not stop the crowd from coming out to see the legendary Thrash Metal band, Testament at Austin’s Fuel Room.
Testament is:
Chuck Billy – Vocals
Eric Peterson – Guitar
Alex Skolnick – Guitar
Greg Christian – Bass
Gene Hoglan - Drums
Coming on at about 10 pm they played for 1 ½ hours, opening with The Preacher & The New Order of the album, The New Order which got the crowds heads banging and devil horns in the air. It was a duel guitar attack of Peterson and Skolnick showing of their fretboard skills as they played off each other. Skolnick is a revered guitar player who can play anything from Jazz to Metal with ease and tonight he gave the crowd everything. Add in Peterson on Rhythm and Lead you can see why Testament is regarded as one of the best Thrash bands since the 80’s.
After coming off tour the night before with Anthrax and Death Angel, the guys in Testament where hitting on all points. Hoglan and Christian provided the earth shaking bass that had the floor moving, Christian was all smiles as he played to the crowd with different faces to go along with the songs. Singer Chuck Billy is a towering figure onstage as he sings into his changing light saber microphone; his presence on stage is very genuine and you can see how much he and the whole band love to perform in front of a crowd.
As headliners you get to see the best of what this band has to offer with songs like Souls of Black, Into the Pit, and Electric Crown. Billy did not say much during song breaks and just let the music do the talking which was fine with all the fans in the crowd as they reached out every time one of the guys came close to the front of the stage, which was often. At one point Billy had someone in the crowd sing along and Skolnick let the crowd play his guitar a few times.
They ended the night with the killer classic DNR, 3 Days in Darkness, and The Formation of Damnation. They are playing a few dates headlining before taking a well deserved break.
All Photos Provided by Peter Lizano
