Nuclear Blast Records has reported that As part of their ongoing “12 Days ‘Til Christmas” video feature, members of Bay Area thrash band TESTAMENT have taken the time to share some of their favorite Christmas childhood memories with their fans… and they won’t stop ‘til Christmas Day.
Get a bird’s eye view into the holiday world of TESTAMENT vocalist Chuck Billy, guitarist Eric Petersen, guitarist Alex Skolnick, and drummer Gene “HO HO” Hoglan via TESTAMENT’s official YouTube Channel here: http://www.youtube.com/TESTAMENTOFFICIAL
The band will also be delivering a New Year’s video message on January 1st, 2014.
Fan-filmed video footage of the first two shows of this year’s Christmas Metal Symphony European tour — which kicked off this past Friday night (December 13) in Trollhättan, Sweden and played again last night (Saturday, December 14) in Kristianstad, Sweden — can be seen below.
Trollhättan fan-filmed video footage:
Magnum Opum Rockestra (under conductor Marcel Heijnen), a 32-strong orchestra accompanied by the METALFORCE 1 rock band and led by singers/vocalists which influenced the metal scene in recent years and decades, are taking part in the Christmas Metal Symphony European tour. Musical director of the production is Joost van den Broek. Singers taking part in the trek include Joey Belladonna (ANTHRAX), Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT), Udo Dirkschneider (U.D.O., ex-ACCEPT), Michael Kiske (HELLOWEEN, UNISONIC) and Floor Jansen (REVAMP, NIGHTWISH, AFTER FOREVER).
It is a well-known fact in the world of international metal fans that Tilburg in The Netherlands was host of this impressive metal show for two years. As a direct result of the succes of these shows, the requests for bringing it to the rest of Europe kept growing. Nowthe time is right to fulfill these wishes and bring this monster on the road.
Christmas Metal Symphony comes with six fantastic international metal vocalists, a six-piece metal band with musicians from bands like EPICA, AFTER FOREVER and STREAM OF PASSION and an impressive 32-piece symphonic orchestra.
The heavy backbone of the show is METALFORCE 1. These musicians were handpicked by Joost van den Broek and these Santa’s Little Helpers contain some of the finest metal artists:
* Marcel Coenen (SUN CAGED) – Guitar
* Johan Van Stratum (STREAM OF PASSION) – Bass
* Abel Carnizales (LABIRINTHO) – Guitar
* Jeffrey Revet (STREAM OF PASSION) – Keyboards
* Koen Herfst (EPICA) – Drums
* Joost Van Den Broek (AFTER FOREVER) – Keyboards
Over the last 35 years of metalmusic, bands have written many concept albums and concept shows; great stories and fantastic songs. The team of Christmas Metal Symphony therefore decided that with the impressive heritage of all these great metal songs ever written, it would be a shame not to use them. So for this reason you can expect performances of your all time favorite metal songs, by some of the best international artists who are part of that great metal history themselves. All of this in a great Christmas and metal setting and brought to you as a full metal show; loud and extremely powerful… just like the doctor ordered!
On November 26th TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy joined LAMB OF GOD on stage at The Fillmore in Silver Spring (Maryland) to perform the song “Redneck”. Check out below the fan-filmed video footage of this performance.
TESTAMENT are currently on the road with LAMB OF GOD and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE in the US. Bassist Greg Christian was reportedly been forced to leave the tour for personal reasons, and EXODUS‘ Jack Gibson (pictured) was tapped to fill info Christian starting November 19th in Milwaukee, WI at Eagles Ballroom. Stay tuned for updates.
Remaining dates on the tour are as follows:
November
20 – Grand Rapids, MI – Orbit Room
22 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
23 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
24 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
25 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
26 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore Silver Spring
Dark Roots Of Thrash, a DVD/2CD release documenting Testament’s sold-out headlining performance at the Paramount in Huntington, NY this past February, will now be released on October 18th (Europe), October 21st (UK), and October 29th (North America) via Nuclear Blast. Check out a new trailer below:
Dark Roots Of Thrash was produced by Get Hammered Productions, directed by Tommy Jones (DEATH ANGEL, KATAKLYSM, SOILWORK) and mixed by Juan Urteaga (VILE, EXODUS, SADUS, MACHINE HEAD). It captures a total of 19 live tracks with countless cams onstage and high above the audience, plus a special moshpit cam that makes you feel like you’re a part of the show!
Dark Roots Of Earth tracklisting:
DVD:
Intro
‘Rise Up’
‘More Than Meets The Eye’
‘Burnt Offerings’
‘Native Blood’
‘True American Hate’
‘Dark Roots Of Earth’
‘Into The Pit’
‘Practice What You Preach’
‘Riding The Snake’
‘Eyes Of Wrath’
‘Trial By Fire’
‘The Haunting’
‘The New Order’
‘Do Not Resuscitate’
‘Three Days In Darkness’
‘The Formation Of Damnation’
‘Over The Wall’
‘Disciples Of The Watch’
BONUS CONTENT:
Backstage Footage
‘Native Blood’ (Video Clip)
CD1:
Intro
‘Rise Up’
‘More Than Meets The Eye’
‘Burnt Offerings’
‘Native Blood’
‘True American Hate’
‘Dark Roots Of Earth’
‘Into The Pit’
‘Practice What You Preach’
CD2:
‘Riding The Snake’
‘Eyes Of Wrath’
‘Trial By Fire’
‘The Haunting’
‘The New Order’
‘Do Not Resuscitate’
‘Three Days In Darkness’
‘The Formation Of Damnation’
‘Over The Wall’
‘Disciples Of The Watch’
Artist: TESTAMENT Album: “The Dark Roots of Thrash” 2CD / DVD/Blu-Ray Release date: 18 October 2013 Label: Nuclear Blast
See the complete tracklist below.
All hail the heavyweight champions of Thrash! Seriously, on the evidence of this smouldering live performance (captured on 2 cds and a DVD/Blu Ray), any band that would follow these guys onstage on their current form would be brave indeed!
This is a celebration of the band’s past, present and future, with four-fifths of the original line-up, almost 10 years since they reunited in 2005, joined by previous recording member Gene Hoglan (who played on 1997’s “Demonic”). Of course, they tear through a selection of classic numbers from their early albums (all of which sound even more vicious than the studio originals in this live setting), with “Over The Wall”, “Disciples of the Watch”, “Trial By Fire”, “The Haunting” and other songs from the band’s first wave of popularity all making a forceful impression.
Classic tracks aside, Testament also ram home the point that they’re not content to rely on nostalgia, with a hefty selection of more recent material from their two post-reunion albums, “The Formation of Damnation” and “The Dark Roots of Earth”, and nail their commitment to going forward as a band to the mast by firing up these songs with the same energy and conviction they put into the familiar early favourites. And their enthusiasm is shared by the audience, who roar their approval throughout, in addition to keeping the mosh pit boiling over. And with good reason, as the likes of “Rise Up”, “Native Blood”, “More Than Meets The Eye” and “Formation of Damnation” hold their own alongside anything from the band’s first three albums, and show that they’ve found a way to move forward whilst not losing sight of their (dark) roots.
The icing on the cake for hardcore fans of the band is a wealth of tracks from the band’s two late 90s records, “Demonic” and “The Gathering”, recorded during a difficult period for both Thrash Metal and Testament themselves, with a revolving door line-up having played on those two albums. In the same way that longtime Iron Maiden fans were intrigued to hear Bruce Dickinson put his own spin on Blaze Bailey-era songs on his return to the band, “The Dark Roots of Thrash” gives the Testament Legions the opportunity to hear original members Alex Skolnick and Greg Christian getting stuck in to the likes of “Do Not Resuscitate”, “Riding The Snake” and “Three Days In Darkness”.
The DVD/Blu Ray is extremely well-filmed, with no less than 19 cameras capturing both band and audience in full flight. Some thought has gone into the editing, with cameras cutting to close ups of Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson as they solo (Peterson is an extremely underrated player), zooming in on Gene Hoglan as he batters his kit, and full-stage perspectives showing Chuck Billy commanding the proceedings, and bassist Greg Christian prowling around stage right.
This is like having a condensed Testament box set with all the tracks played by the band operating at the top of their game. If you’re a fan, the career-spanning tracklist will really hit the spot, and if you’re new to the band, this is a great introduction.
Album Rating – 10/10
Dark Roots Of Earth DVD/2CD track list: DVD:
01. Intro
02. Rise Up
03. More Than Meets The Eye
04. Burnt Offerings
05. Native Blood
06. True American Hate
07. Dark Roots Of Earth
08. Into The Pit
09. Practice What You Preach
10. Riding The Snake
11. Eyes Of Wrath
12. Trial By Fire
13. The Haunting
14. The New Order
15. Do Not Resuscitate
16. Three Days In Darkness
17. The Formation Of Damnation
18. Over The Wall
19. Disciples Of The Watch
20. Credits BONUS CONTENT:
21. Backstage Footage
22. Native Blood (Video Clip) CD1:
01. Intro
02. Rise Up
03. More Than Meets The Eye
04. Burnt Offerings
05. Native Blood
06. True American Hate
07. Dark Roots Of Earth
08. Into The Pit
09. Practice What You Preach CD2:
01. Riding The Snake
02. Eyes Of Wrath
03. Trial By Fire
04. The Haunting
05. The New Order
06. Do Not Resuscitate
07. Three Days In Darkness
08. The Formation Of Damnation
09. Over The Wall
10. Disciples Of The Watch
Dark Roots Of Earth 2CD track list: CD1:
01. Intro
02. Rise Up
03. More Than Meets The Eye
04. Burnt Offerings
05. Native Blood
06. True American Hate
07. Dark Roots Of Earth
08. Into The Pit
09. Practice What You Preach CD2:
01. Riding The Snake
02. Eyes Of Wrath
03. Trial By Fire
04. The Haunting
05. The New Order
06. Do Not Resuscitate
07. Three Days In Darkness
08. The Formation Of Damnation
09. Over The Wall
10. Disciples Of The Watch
Rich Davenport’s Rock Show this week features exclusive interviews Testament frontman Chuck Billy, Whitfield Crane of Ugly Kid Joe and former Blackfoot bassist and founder member Greg T. Walker, and is available now for streaming at this link.
In the first hour of the show, Testament frontman Chuck Billy discusses the band’s new 2 CD/DVD live package, “The Dark Roots of Thrash”. Chuck selects four live songs, and also spills the beans on the band’s plans for a new album in 2014.
Also in the first hour, Ugly Kid Joe vocalist Whitfield Crane talks about the band’s comeback, and the re-released expanded edition of their “Stairway To Hell” EP. Crane also discusses the band’s recent tours (including their current UK trek with Skid Row) and festival performances and confirms that they are currently writing a new album for release next year.
Part 2 features an hour-long Southern Rock Special, in which former Blackfoot bassist and founding member Greg T. Walker charts the band’s history through the period which saw the release of the classic albums “Strikes”, “Tomcattin’”,
“Marauder” and “Highway Song Live”, all of which have been newly re-released in remastered form through Rock Candy records. Greg selects two songs from each of the albums, and recalls the highlights of the band’s peak years.
The show also features classic tracks from Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath.
You can also listen on Sunday 27th October 17:00-19:00 GMT, repeated Monday 28th October 14:00-16:00 GMT on http://www.bloodstockradio.com
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
Artist: TESTAMENT
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 