Testament At MTelus

One of the most anticipated metal tours of 2024 took place in Montreal on the 4^th. The Klash Of The Titans tour had arrived.  The line-up featured Testament and their touring mates Kreator and Possessed.   You can follow the links to see their respective updates.  Montreal loves their metal, and they sold out the MTelus in order to see some of thrash metals most storied bands in action.  The final band to hit the stage was our co-headliner for the evening, Testament.  I feel like this has been said a few times already, but Testament is not only one of the biggest names of the Thrash metal movement that came out of San Francisco in the 1980’s, but they remain a vital and important member of the scene today.  As Chuck Billy and crew made their way to the stage, the already rabid crowd managed to take their energy level up a knotch as I could feel the foundations quake from my spot in the pit.  Opening song ‘Eerie Inhabitants’ was a great choice to begin the show with.  The first lyrics of the song, “A world of chaos, a world of fear, a world of anger and corruption”  sadly describe the world of today as well, some may even say more, as when it was released in 1988.  Chuck Billy was clearing having a great time up on the stage, playfully sticking out his tongue and playing air guitar while the shredding duo of Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson handled the real thing.  Alex Skolnick has always been a personal favourite of mine, and I may have spent a little to much time on his side of the stage, neglecting his partner.  Sorry Eric, I’ll make it up to you next time.  Their most recent album, ‘Titans of Creation’ from 2020 was largely ignored as the set-list was pretty much a celebration of their two classic albums. ‘The Legacy’ from 1987 and the monster follow up album, 1988’s ‘The New Order’.  There were no complaints from the crowd, or from Your Friendly Neighbourhood Photographer.  'The New Order' was my first Testament album and the songs sound as great now ans they did back then.  This was classic Testament at their heavy metal best, and I did my best to photograph it all as waves of crowd surfers, seemingly non-stop, went rushing past my head.  What an experience!  All of the photographs were taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths.  Here are several more photographs of Testament while they performed at the MTelus.

If you would like to find out more about Testament and their music, you can do so by follow the link to their website.  If you would like to see the photographs that I took of Kreator and Possessed, who also performed that night, you can do so by following the respective links.  Much thanks to Kristin Torres of Nuclear Blast Records and also Christopher Gonda of V13 Media for getting me a pass to shoot the show.  As always, it is very much appreciated.  Testament may not be classified as part of the famed 'Big 4' of thrash metal, but any one of those other bands will tell you that Testament ranks right up there with them.  The Klash Of The Titans tour goes on to the end of the month before Testament hits the road to Europe.  Be sure to check them out when they play near you.