Live Review: Anthrax/Testament/Death Angel @ the State Theater Portland, Maine on October 3, 2012

When I saw this show, this was the third leg of the tour featuring the same three bands. The formula, and success of the tour, was working so well that it was understandable they wanted to keep it going. It is a good thing they did, because based on previous reviews I was reading, everyone was enjoying the package. So, it was quite a shock to see this tour hitting Maine's largest city, Portland. What was unknown was how many people were actually going to show up. But to a pleasent surprise, the show was packed to the max, which was incredible, especially for a Wednesday night.

First band out of the gates was Death Angel, who stormed the stage and opened with "I Chose The Sky", which is off of their most recent album Relentless Retribution. Death Angel had the crowd in the palm of their hands instantly. The band then really whipped the crowd into a frenzy with the classic "Mistress Of Pain", which sent the place into either headbanging mode or slam dancing mode. It is just amazing that after 25 years The Ultra-Violence still has the same impact as it did then. The band did more songs from Relentless Retribution, which included the songs "Truce", "Claws In So Deep" and "Relentless Revolution". The songs were played very well and got the crowd going. The band did a short version of the classic title track, "The Ultra-Violence" before closing it out with "Thrown To The Wolves" from the less than stellar album The Art Of Dying, but actually sounded good live. The only complaint that people had was that the crowd favorites "Road Mutants", "Bored" and "Seemingly Endless Time" were excluded from their set, but understood that they were the opening band and didn't let them down.

Up next was Testament. The band came out and opened up their set with the beefy thrashy affair with "Rise Up", which so happens to be the opening track off their newly released album Dark Roots Of Earth. Everyone went nuts and was shouting along to the chorus, which was incredible I have to say. Testament then played two songs from the classic album The New Order with the title track and "The Preacher", which sounded so great and considering The New Order is one of my top favorite Testament albums, hearing these two songs back to back sent me into an ultimate headbanging fury as I like these two songs very much. Things were really off to a good start and much more came as the band returned to their latest album by playing "Native Blood" and "True American Hate", the latter of which had the crowd grooving in many ways and this song has become a crowd favorite since they started playing it live in addition to "Rise Up" that was played earlier. Testament then launched into "More Than Meets The Eye", which really came off as a more thrashier song than on the album, which of course is always great. When they played "Into The Pit", everyone went berzerk and we were all headbanging to the point where our heads might fall off and some circle pits were going crazy as well. The one lone song from Practice What You Preach was of course the title track as it is one of their most popular songs and that album more or less thrusted them into a bigger limelight, but it is a song that gets you grooving and that is a great thing. I think what came off as a big surprise was that "Over The Wall" was the one and only representitive of their classic debut album The Legacy. Usually at least three songs are always included, but given the time restraints, and the fact they had to play a few from the latest album, it is understandable. We were then treated to two songs from the album The Gathering. Yes, two songs back to back. "D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)" and "3 Days In Darkness", which to me are the two best songs off the album and were very much enjoyed and Testament played them very well on this night. Testament closed out with "The Formation Of Damnation", which was a nice way to close out their set. Testament really fed off the energy of the crowd. I did notice that Eric was not his usual self at first but as it progressed he was more like himself. Maybe he was a little ill and had to pace himself, or just tired. But he still played very well.

Anthrax, who were the headliners of this tour, took the stage. After the instrumental "Worship" played, they tore into "Fight 'Em Til You Can't", which not only is a good song, but a really good way to open up their set with full force. Next up was the classic "Caught In A Mosh", which pleased everyone in the crowd to no end as the place erupted in headbanging and moshing frenzies, which this song is supposed to do and it is done well on this night. Ever since 1988, what Anthrax show would be complete if they didn't play the Trust cover "Antisocial"? None, right? Well, that was on display and naturally everyone went crazy for it like you would expect. It is still amazing after all these years that song feels more like an Anthrax song than a cover song. "Indians", and while it was played in fantastic fashion, also produced a very funny moment during the part where Scott yells the word wardance. After Scott yells the word, the music stops and Scott starts goofing on the crowd in front of him for standing around and then said everyone to headbang, mosh, or do what you have to do. It was pretty funny and got a good laugh. After another instrument from Worship Music ("Hymn 1"), we got treated to a double shot of full songs from that album. The first being "In The End", which is not a favorite track of mine from it, and most of the crowd didn't react strongly to it either. It was played fine, but kind of killed the momentum a little bit. But thankfully they picked it back up with "The Devil You Know", which got the crowd pumped back up again. Anthrax wen't way back in their catalog for the classic song, "Deathrider", which of course made us old schoolers from the 80s smile with such pleasure as we did back in the day. I was really glad to see "In My World" make the setlist as it is one of my big favorites from Persistence Of Time and a song I always have popped for live ever since the album was released. "Be All, End All", which to me is the ultimate song from State Of Euphoria, was met with a rabid response from the crowd. Anthrax delivered a high octane performance of  "Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)" and followed that up with the cover "Got The Time". The band closed it out with the classic song "I Am The Law", which was a great way to close out the show.

This was a hot show from start to finish. All three bands delivered great performances and the crowd really showed it back to them. The energy between the bands and the audience were just so perfectly in-sync. Everyone had such a great time. As I said at the beginning, it was such a surprise to see the place packed, especially for a Wednesday night and even the bands were loving the turn out for a week night. You don't get tour packages like this all that much anymore, and when you are an old school 80s thrash fan like I am, it just takes you back to that time, which makes you recall great memories, but at the sametime, it shows the younger fans what a great metal show is supposed to be like. And to me, that is a good thing.