TESTAMENT, SEPULTURA, & PRONG - North American Tour 2017

TESTAMENT, SEPULTURA, & PRONG - North American Tour 2017 - Metal Master Kingdom show review

5/2/2017

SEPULTURA

Derrick Green - Vocals
Andreas Kisser - Guitars
Paulo Jr. - Bass
Eloy Casagrande - Drums

Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Website: www.sepultura.com.br

TESTAMENT

Chuck Billy - Vocals
Alex Skolnick - Guitars
Eric Peterson - Guitars
Steve DiGiorgio - Bass
Gene Hoglan - Drums

Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Website: www.testamentlegions.com

Unfortunately, we were unable to capture show photos of Prong at this show. Our apologies.

PRONG

Tommy Victor - Vocals & guitars
Jason Christopher - Bass & backing vocals
Art Cruz - Drums

Label: Steamhammer/SPV Records
Website: www.prongmusic.com

Written by: Alex Stojanovic
Photography: Rob Botten

@ The Phoenix Concert Theatre
Toronto, ON Canada
April 27, 2017

Presented by: LiveNation

As far as April goes for shows, it's been a really busy month with several shows coming through town. Closing off the April portion of the 2017 concert season was none other than Testament, who returned to Toronto on their headline tour in support of their crushing new album Brotherhood Of The Snake with special guests Sepultura and Prong to the Phoenix Concert Theatre. This marks the seventh time I've seen Testament and they currently hold the record as the band I've seen the most times, and I will never get tired of seeing them live. Compared to the previous six times I saw them, this was the absolute best Testament show I've ever seen. They obviously never disappoint, but this show took the crown.

Kicking off the festivities were Prong, who were squeezed at the front of the stage with absolutely no walking room for them to criss-cross the stage. Tommy Victor and Jason Christopher stayed on their respective sides, but they made great use of the limited space they had as they put on an intensely energetic and entertaining set. Drummer Art Cruz however was the star of the set. He and one of the techs in the wings played some "Drumstick catch" with each other. Art would throw his stick to the tech and he would throw it back and Cruz would catch it without missing a beat. A funny moment was when Cruz threw a stick to the crowd, he then motioned them to throw it back, but they didn't listen. Even though there were a few small-sized pits that fizzled during their set, the crowd was very enthusiastic. Some of the songs the band played included "Ultimate Authority", "Unconditional", "Whose Fist Is This Anyway" and of course "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck".

As Sepultura took the stage next, the enthusiasm and energy of the crowd shot through the roof. Starting off new with "I Am The Enemy", they whipped the crowd into a frenzy and a fierce mosh pit exploded. Derrick Green is an absolute beast on stage with his monstrous voice and physique, you just can't help but obey his commands. The real star of the set was Eloy "The Powerhouse" Casagrande. Anyone who has seen Sepultura live since 2011 knows exactly what I'm talking about. He just destroys those drums. Other songs from Machine Messiah that were performed included "Alethea", "Resistant Parasites", "Sworn Oath" and "Phantom Self". However, they kept the fans happy and treated us to some of the old material, like "Inner Self", "Desperate Cry" and "Refuse/Resist". They finished off with back-to-back songs from Roots, which were "Ratamahatta" and they closed with "Roots Bloody Roots".

Now it was time for the moment we've all been waiting for: Testament! Aside from the brilliant light show, the setlist was the main element that made this show stand apart from the other times I've seen them as they threw in quite a few surprise tunes that weren't played in quite a few years, and never played. As the intro played, the band walked out on stage with Chuck Billy yelling out "ARE YOU READY!?" as he always does, before they kicked into "Brotherhood Of The Snake", followed by "Rise Up". CO2 machines always make for a cool visual at any show and it did the same with this show. The band managed to touch on half of the new album with tracks like the title track, "The Pale King", "Centuries Of Suffering", "Stronghold" and "Seven Seals". Each member had a chance to shine with a solo, giving Chuck a chance to take a breather throughout the set. Alex Skolnick was first up in the solo segments, who proved once again why he is one of the greatest in the world, with incredible and clean shredding, and he even threw in a little Van Halen with a teaser of "Eruption". His solo was immediately followed by a nice surprise, which was "Electric Crown". Eric Peterson would come in with his solo a little later. A few of the other nice surprises featured in the set were "Low", "Throne Of Thorns", "Eyes Of Wrath" and "Souls Of Black", but they didn't forget to play some of the more familiar tunes like "Into The Pit" and "The New Order".

Due to the smaller size of the stage at the Phoenix, Testament were unable to bring their full stage production with the big riser and six truss totems with lights, so they downscaled it to just four of the six truss totems and the Brotherhood Of The Snake backdrop. Gene Hoglan's drum solo was a set up for "First Strike Is Deadly" as he ended his solo with the song's drum intro and that led into the song. Since the last time I saw Testament, Hoglan's drum kit got an upgrade with steel shells and was slightly bigger in size, which only looked more sinister and awesome! When it came time for Steve DiGiorgio to shine on the bass, he threw in a little teaser of Rush's "Cygnus X-1", with Gene joining in just for that bit. It was super cool to hear that. This was immediately followed a huge surprise which was "Urotsukidoji", which the band have not played live in over 2 decades. The encore saw the band play a couple more signature tunes, which were "Practice What You Preach" and the set was closed with "Over The Wall". In conclusion, it was an absolutely incredible night with three of thrash's best, but I will say that I was a bit surprised that Testament didn't include anything from The Formation Of Damnation in the set. I'm very much looking forward to Testament's return to Toronto in the future.

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