With the thrash scene on UK soil still going strong since the revival, it was time for another young thrash band to grace the stage of The Wulfrun, WARBRINGER. After first hearing these on record, it has been an highly anticipated wait for me to see these young thrashers in action, and man they didn’t disappoint as a nearly half full venue watched them power their way through a destructive and neck breaking 30 minute set, which combined some of their best songs from their previous two albums to date. Opening up with ‘Total War’, the song title alone showed the intent on what the band had planned for the crowd.

The relentless headbanging at near light speed didn’t let up as they continued with the likes of ‘Severed Reality’, ‘Living In A Whirlwind’ , ‘Jackal’ and ‘Prey For Death’ (all from latest album ‘Waking Into Nightmares’) showing their caliber to write extremely good and fast thrash songs. Lead singer John Kevill delivered a top notch performance and his trademark scream style vocals were in full force tonight, supplemented brilliantly by the dual axe attack of Adam Carroll and John Laux as they performed each riff with sheer perfection. As the set closed with the superb ‘Combat Shock’, WARBRINGER left the crowd definitely wanting more, and will be certain of a welcome return next time they appear on UK shores. Next time these guys are on tour in the UK, be sure to check these guys out. You won’t be disappointed!

With the venue near enough full now, UK thrashers ONSLAUGHT took the stage and delivered a tight and excellent performance from the off which the crowd duly lapped up form start to finish. Opening with the title track of their last studio album ‘Killing Peace’, which went down a storm as everyone went into headbanging mode. Despite only having a 30 minute set, ONSLAUGHT managed to get the majority of their best songs to date in the set.

The likes of earlier material such as ‘Let There Be Death’ and ‘Metal Forces’ went down extremely well with both the older thrash fans, who probably remembered hearing them for the first time back in the 80’s, as well as the younger ones too in the venue tonight. Unfortunately it was all over too soon as they closed with the title track of their first album, the awesome ‘Power From Hell’. All in all, for anyone who had never seen ONSLAUGHT before, this was a great insight into them and their material. Hopefully they will be back soon doing a few headline slots, and I’m sure they will have picked up a few more fans from this tour.

As the lights dimmed and Bay Area thrashers TESTAMENT took to the stage, the crowd didn’t need any encouragement during opening track, ‘The Preacher’ to get the pit going, and as they kicked into ‘The New Order’, the atmosphere in the venue just went from strength to strength. ‘Over The Wall’ made an early appearance in the set, but this did not stop anybody from crowd surfing to it.

With some great songs in their back catalogue, there is always a core group of them which will be played in any TESTAMENT set. The usual crowd pleasers like ‘Practice What You Preach’, ‘Burnt Offerings’, ‘Into the Pit’ and ‘Souls of Black’ were all present here. One surprise to the set was the inclusion of the more melodic track ‘The Legacy’, which seemed to break the rhythm of pace slightly, but did not deter the atmosphere at all as the crowd sang along. A surprise omission to tonights set was ‘Alone In The Dark’ seemingly going amiss. Still, when you have a back catalogue like TESTAMENT do, it’s always going to be difficult to satisfy everybody.

The dual guitars of Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson, undoubtedly two of the best in the thrash genre, were note perfect tonight as they ripped through a couple of tracks from their latest offering, ‘The Formation of Damnation’, in the crunching form of ‘More Than Meets The Eye’ and ‘The Persecuted Won’t Forget’, as well as set closer and title track, ‘The Formation of Damnation’. Chuck Billy sounded as great as ever as he growled his way through the brutal ‘D.N.R.’ and coupled with the ferocious drumming of Paul Bostaph and bass playing of Greg Christian made tonight a truly superb and rememberable performance that had everyone leaving with a huge grin on their face, as well as a few aches and pains. TESTAMENT showed tonight why they are still considered one of the best thrash acts out there, and as long as they continue write material and perform live, crowds like tonight will still show up and support them 20 plus years on.

TESTAMENT Setlist: The Preacher / The New Order / Over The Wall / Practice What You Preach / More Than Meets The Eye / The Persecuted Won’t Forget / Burnt Offerings / The Legacy / Into The Pit / Souls of Black / Disciples of The Watch / D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate) / 3 Days In Darkness / The Formation of Damnation

Review By Adam Fredericks