Last night, Feb. 8, in New York City, Anthrax, Testament and Death Angel closed out their awesome thrash trek at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square. This tour was truly a thrashers paradise, bringing together a lineup of legendary acts which for many can rival the excitement for a ‘Big 4′ show.

Death Angel started out the night with a punishing and melodic set, which brought the energy of the show to a high point from the very start. The five-piece played a short but sweet collection on tracks spanning throughout their 30 years of existence including ‘Claws in So Deep’ and ‘The Ultra-Violence’ going into ‘Thrown to the Wolves.’

Testament came on next — showing New York why the quintet encompasses everything that thrash bands aspire to be. Frontman Chuck Billy showcased a voice more gigantic than his physical frame, honing his trademark light-saber-looking mic-stand and Gene Hoglan blew the crowd away by manning the drums with the impeccable timing and precision that gave him his nickname “The Atomic Clock.” Additionally, every metal fan should get the chance to see guitarist Alex Skolnick shred a crowd to pieces with his virtuosic playing.

Whenever Testament plays a show, regardless of where they are on the bill, the band perform like headliners. Testament’s aggressive and blistering style comes at you like a brick wall dropped from a skyscraper. The band relentlessly cut through tracks such as ‘Into the Pit,’ ‘D.N.R.’ and ‘Souls of Black,’ leaving the crowd stunned by their presence.

As the crowd dusted themselves off from Testament’s thrash attack, they began to prepare for hometown heroes Anthrax to take the stage. Backed up by an awesome stage setup covered in ‘The Devil You Know’ style pentagrams, Anthrax came out to a rabid crowd and busted straight into ‘Earth on Hell.’ As Anthrax thrashed through fan favorites such as ‘Caught in a Mosh,’ ‘Indians’ and ‘I Am The Law,’ the fans on the floor made an oval pit reaching from wall to wall.

The entire lineup was onstage after a rough patch in the tour that saw various band members sitting out the trek. Guitarist Scott Ian had missed a couple of dates with a viral infection, while drummer Charlie Benante sat out several gigs to be with his mother, who passed away last week. Bassist Frank Bello, who is Benante’s nephew and the grandson of Benante’s late mother, also sat out some shows to be with the family. During the set, Benante held a up a picture of his mother between songs — the crowd cheering and chanting “Char-lie, Char-lie” in support of the drummer.

Overall, each band brought their A-game and put on a thrash-tastic show for the New York fans, who couldn’t have been more appreciative of the event put forth for them.

Check out Photos of Anthrax, Testament and Death Angel at Their N.Y. Show

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