Testament live at the Koko

My second time seeing Testament at this venue although if my memory serves the first time was way back in 2005. The Koko really is a lovely venue for a metal gig visually speaking but with the ceiling being so high the sound does tend to get a little cavernous and loud but a great place nevertheless.

First up we had some supports to get through. Xerath is a band I've heard about before and tried a bit as well but it's not my cup of tea. It's sort of pretty technical at times but the root of the band seems to be in the Djent movement and I don't do Djent! They didn't get a great response it has to be said.

Next up were Malefice who I've actually seen before. They support on quite a few bills in and around London. They play melodic thrashy deathcore. They are not terrible and have some decent riffage but again try as I might I can't get it into it. The singer alluded to their lot on stage by saying they've died a death on the previous four nights of the tour. They fared a little better here in London though and a moshpit even started on the last song. Again not suitable support really for Testament and it's a shame they can't take a band like Suicide Angels out with them rather than these local deathcore bands.

There was a 9.45 curfew so Testament came out right on 8.15pm to fill their 90 minute set with as much music as possible. Of course they were mainly promoting new album Dark Roots...which to be honest hasn't excited me all that much. It has some great songs like Native Blood and True American Hate which were both aired and went down a storm but it also has some average tunes which don't really do much for me.

However I was mainly here for the good old classics, Alone in the Dark complete with extended crowd singalong section, my fave Testament song ever, Disciples of the Watch was monstrous as was the thrashtastic Over The Wall played at breakneck speed. Practice What You Preach can never be left out of a Testament gig and so it proved to be a real fan fave with full crowd sing along.

I was 2 rows from the front at the start of the show but there was such an almighty crush that I had to bid a hasty retreat for safer waters. Much too old for that malarkey! I couldn't take any decent photos as a result and decided to try and find a balcony spot but even that was nigh on impossible. The place was rammed from every corner. Anyway it was a good but not amazing show for me. It's always good to hear Chuck's roar though and those familiar kicking Testa-riffs that all thrashers know and love.

Setlist:


Rise Up
The New Order
The Preacher
Native Blood
True American Hate
More Than Meets the Eye
Dark Roots of Earth
Into the Pit
Practice What You Preach
Over the Wall
Alone in the Dark
Disciples of the Watch
D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)
3 Days in Darkness
The Formation of Damnation

Luca Turilli's Rhapsody Live

Finally the last night of my week long metal party saw the debut London headline show of the newly established Luca Turilli's version of Rhapsody with support from three Euro power metal bands.

First up were fellow Italians Vexillum. Their album is ok but I'm not a fan of the singer as he's a bit too whiny. Their songs are not all that catchy for me either though they do have their moments. They actually performed pretty well in their allotted 30 minutes and warmed up the early 50-60 diehards before the full 350 or so crowd turned up later on which is not too bad for a Monday night and with so many other gigs around as well.

Next up were Orden Ogan and they sure as hell went down a treat. Their new album smokes and live they really brought some great powerful melodic metal to the slowly filling out crowd. The singer had a lower register voice and sounded in fine form. They played a very enjoyable set including plenty of new tunes and also memorable tunes like We Are Pirates from the previous album. Really enjoyable set from these guys.

Next we had veteran German happy metallers Freedom Call. The sound was absolutely fantastic for their set. The guitars were thick and crisp with Chris Bay's happy high vocals ringing out loud and clear. Their latest album Land of the Crimson Dawn is a mixed affair for me but has enough good songs to be an enjoyable album overall. I must admit I am not a big enough fan to know their songs instantly but they are so easy to latch on to in any case whether you remember them instantly or not. They went down very well but I far preferred Orden Ogan to them in the end.

Finally it was the turn for Luca's incarnation of Rhapsody to bowl us over with their symphonic power metal. I had been looking forward to this show since I got the ticket back in the summer and to be honest it was a long time coming. They took to the stage at 9.20pm and took their final bow at 11pm although this did include solo spots and time spent for a couple of encores. They also had some tech issues with the tape playback at one point but it was a minor thing. New vocalist Alessandro Conti was pretty damn amazing and he was helped along with the female singer whose operatic vocals were perfect. They played most of the new album and they were played at breakneck speed.

I was pleasantly surprised that they played two songs from Luca's solo albums namely Demonheart and Village of Dwarves which both went down a storm with the crowd. Later on an acoustic song was played which was a nice change of pace from the frenetic stuff before they soon returned to the classic fast songs such as Emerald Sword. Overall I can have little room for complaint apart from the usual set list type complaints that everyone has. I'm just glad that I managed to see this version of Rhapsody at least and if possible I'd like to see Rhapsody of Fire one day to see how they compare with Luca's version. A very enjoyable night of cheesy power metal shenanegins indeed!