Kreator - Anthrax - Testament
Dec 7th 2024
Schleyerhalle, Stuttgart
Review By:
Stefan Raspl
Saw KREATOR last time in the 90s on their RENEWAL tour, with maybe 800
in attendance. With Thrash/Death in its infamous downward spiral in the
90s already in effect, who would have thought that they'd play the
Schleyerhalle in Stuttgart, with a max capacity north of 15,000
(depending upon what seating layout is chosen), about 30 years later,
and get a more than respectable attendance? Or, as Mille himself
announced: This was the biggest show they ever had in Stuttgart! Not
sold out, but very well attended, I'd estimate more than 5,000 in
attendance. But one thing after another.
TESTAMENT opened, and we sadly arrived only when they were like 20
Minutes into their set - we literally took a wrong bus, 'cause I was
eager to see them play! However, it was a rather disappointing show:
While lighting (including some limited use of flamethrowers) was really
good, Chuck visibly struggled to hit higher notes. Alex Skolnick was
almost solely responsible for any stage acting, but his superb leads
were drowned in a muddy sound, and hard to make out. The rest of the
band was rather lackluster, mostly standing still, and only once in a
while changing their positions. I'm sad to say this, as TESTAMENT had a
reputation as being a real force when playing live, but this was just
boring. You'd think the opener gives an extra 10 or 20 percent, but
this was a rather minimalist performance.
To their credit, they played a varied set, covering a lot of ground in
terms of their catalogue, and even threw in a ballad - the only one of
the entire night. ELECTRIC CROWN was the highlight in my humble
opinion, but, sadly, Alex' leads were again not easy to make out. The
new drummer did a good job, and the band was, and this holds true for
all bands of the night, very tight. All in all a wasted chance to make
an impression to a bigger audience.
Next up was ANTHRAX. I'm not a huge fan, and if at all, would prefer
the John Bush era. But, man, I really have to give it to them: They
showed TESTAMENT how it's done! Starting out with a (too) long intro
video celebrating 40 years of Anthrax, they began playing behind a
white curtain with multiple lights flashing from behind, so you could
make out the players for split seconds at a time only - nice! When the
curtain dropped, they almost exploded on stage! It seemed they had
lowered they stage a bit - I believe this must be due to the fact that
their drum riser wasn't as high as the one TESTAMENT had, but I might
be wrong. Their sound was a massive improvement over TESTAMENT, too,
you could easily make out each instrument, including the bass. Lights
and fire improved over TESTAMENT, naturally.
While I always took issue with Joe Belladonna's vocals (just not my
thing), I couldn't believe his performance: This guy is 64 years old
and sang like he's 20!! Amazing performance! There was continuously
lots of action on stage, and also some small show acts, like Charlie
being concerned that not everybody in the audience would have a good
time - well done, and they had really good crowd control in general!
However, their setlist was focusing a lot on their early Joey years.
Which was good in so far as I knew these songs quite well, and bad as
in ANTHRAX relying too much of their past, painting them almost a
nostalgia act. To top that off, they HAD to play a cover as part of
their set - I was always critical of that: Especially when you're
supporting, you shouldn't waste your time by playing covers. Never mind
the fact that a band with a vast back catalogue as ANTHRAX should have
enough material to play! In particular, throwing in a song like BLACK
LODGE (which Joey has performed in the past, although it's a Bush-era
song) could have provided a nice counterpoint in their set. But the
crowd response to ANTISOCIAL (which I always found a lame song to begin
with) was immense - who am I to argue?! Still: They came across a bit
like a nostalgia act. A very hungry one at that, but, still. Which is
even more surprising, as their last couple of records were universally
praised in all the reviews that I'm aware of.
Finally, it was time for KREATOR to take the stage. I didn't get why
they would choose IRON MAIDEN's RUN TO THE HILLS as their intro song,
but, whatever. Of course, this being in Germany, it was clear that they
rightly were the headliner. And, boy, did they deliver! The stage
production was friggin' awesome: They had two (inflatable) demons
(reminded me of some of the monsters from the DOOM gaming series),
easily 15ft/4m tall and looking ultra realistic, left and right on
stage, plus their mascot in the middle. A couple of songs into the set,
they had dolls falling from the top, which looked like guys getting
strangled, which completed a hellish vision that SLAYER would easily
have envied during any of their tours! This was complemented with two
monks with torches that were burning corpses on stage. They also had
cannons shooting long paper bands into the crowd, which looked awesome
when they came flying at you. Visually, their show was hugely
impressive! Their sound was, of course, flawless, and they sure had all
the fire and light that they needed.
To my surprise, their setlist was focusing on their recent material,
playing less of their pre-2000s songs, and the crowd totally dug it!
Which speaks for KREATOR! The new bassist did a great show, and Ventor
on drums did a more than solid performance. Actually, while lacking a
distinctive style, I still feel he's not getting anywhere near the
recognition he should, especially with such a flawless live
performance. The new bass player put on a good show, and the whole band
played very tight. It sure was a triumphant gig - only letdown was that
they did not do any encores, and it seems like they may have cut things
short. Set list wise, they were relentless, and the only criticism I
would have is that there were no standout songs - they kept things on a
high level constantly. This was definitely a great package. In summary,
TESTAMENT was still OK music-wise, ANTHRAX delivered a highly
entertaining gig with a bit too much nostalgia, and KREATOR
impressively demonstrated that they are more than well prepared to win
even more fans for years to come!
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