Full disclosure up front - because of some glitch with the camera I used to shoot this show, I can't get any of my Anthrax pictures onto the computer. Please enjoy some Testament and Death Angel pictures instead.
The announcement of a second leg of the Anthrax, Testament and Death Angel tour that first hit the States in the fall was greedily devoured by metalheads whose cities had been ignored last time around. Indianapolis was among these cities, and on Friday night, the three old-school thrash bands brought precisely the kind of intensity that the attendees at the Egyptian Room were craving. Despite a family emergency that saw drummer Charlie Benante out of the lineup and an illness that caused guitarist Scott Ian to miss, Anthrax still managed to show why they're headlining this tour even after impressive sets by both Death Angel and Testament.
Long-running Filipino-American tech-thrash outfit Death Angel opened the festivities with a short but sweet set. After opening with the ripping "I Chose the Sky" from 2010's Relentless Retribution, they played a track from 1987 ("Mistress of Pain") before moving into a run of more recent tunes. Guitarists Ted Aguilar and Rob Cavestany played brilliantly off one another, and the eternally dreadlocked Mark Osegueda kept the crowd active with his searing vocals.
Testament was the next band on the bill, and probably due to the absences from the Anthrax lineup, they actually played a slightly longer set than the headliners. Everyone was in top form, from vocalist Chuck Billy who used a toy lightsaber as a mic stand to guitar gods Alex Skolnick and Eric Petersen to one of the greatest metal drummers of all time, Gene Hoglan. Their set pulled from all over their long career, with even the rarely played "Electric Crown" from my personal favorite Testament album, The Ritual, being brought to the stage. Billy succeeded in instigating some of the first intense crowd activity of the night, with "Over the Wall" and "Into the Pit" being notable rabble-rousers. Plenty of reports from this tour have argued that Testament has been blowing Anthrax off the stage, and while I disagree, it's easy to see why some people think that. They're insanely tight, and they know their audience. What more could you want?
Anthrax have the answer to that rhetorical question - hooks, and loads of them. Thrash isn't necessarily a genre that one would associate with getting stuck in your head, but from the very beginning, Anthrax has been in a world apart from their peers by using a clean-singing vocalist with a penchant for writing massive, falsetto-laden choruses. Joey Belladonna certainly still has it vocally, and he made classics like "Madhouse" and "Indians" come to life just as impressively as new cuts like "In the End" and "Fight 'em 'til You Can't." The absence of Scott Ian was noticeable if only because of how much personality he brings to the stage, but fellow guitarist Rob Caggiano beefed up his riffage, bassist Frank Bello made his backing vocals even more robust, and fill-ins Ted Aguilar and Rob Cavestany filled in some of the few remaining blanks. Gene Hoglan did such an excellent job on the skins that drummer Charlie Benante's absence was hardly perceptible.
None of these bands were convincingly young on stage, but that wasn't what anyone came for. A bunch of middle-aged dudes went onstage at the Egyptian Room and, without trying to fit into any trend or scene, rocked harder than most bands half their age. Sure, most of the guys in the audience had stringy gray hair and smelled more like weed than they should at their age, but that's often who thrash's magic works on best. If you're young and you understand the genre's appeal, all the better. I feel blessed to have acquired the taste.
Full Death Angel set list:
I Chose The Sky
Mistress Of Pain
Truce
Claws In So Deep
Buried Alive
Thrown To The Wolves
Full Testament set list:
The Preacher
The New Order
The Persecuted Won't Forget
Practice What You Preach
Over The Wall
Souls Of Black
Into The Pit
Electric Crown
Henchmen Ride
More Than Meets The Eye
D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)
3 Days In Darkness
Disciples Of The Watch
Full Anthrax set list:
Earth On Hell
Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't
Caught In A Mosh
Antisocial
The Devil You Know
Indians
In The End
Got The Time
Medusa
(encore break)
Madhouse
Metal Thrashing Mad
I Am The Law
Post and photography by Brad Sanders
