M'Lou Elkins 
CONCERT REVIEW + PHOTOS:
Testament w/ Kreator and Possessed
10/20/24 – The Factory – Dallas, TX
©M’Lou Elkins/Skip2Photography.com
Possessed appears onstage to little fanfare, so it takes the crowd a moment to realize the legendary thrashers are among us. When frontman Jeff Becerra removes the rubber band from his hair you know it’s go-time. Heads whipped and bobbed in unison, and hair flew about. “The Exorcist” and “Pentagram” are standouts of their set and the guys did a stellar job gearing up the crowd for the next course of metal.
The guys waste no time and launch into “Hate Über Alles” off their album of the same name released in 2022. Bathed in red lights with flashing white strobes, they take a beat to raise their “horns” to the crowd before seamlessly tearing into “Phobia” of 1997’s Outcast. Taking a brief break to speak to the crowd, vocalist Mille Petrozza screams, “Dallas!!! We are Kreator. Welcome to the Klash of the Titans! Right now the time has come for the first wall of death! I will count to four and then I wanna see this place turn into a massacre, Dallas-style, ok?”
As they rip into the 2005 track “Enemy of God,” the left side of the crowd races towards the right side of the crowd and smacks into each other, and with that, a large circle pit is formed.
The thrashing in the pit is intensified by the rapid-fire tempo of the song. Guitarist guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö vocalist Petrozza, and bassist Frédéric Leclercq each stand on risers and play at a furious pace while whipping their heads around, with hair flailing about. Fans from the pit begin to trickle over the barricade, sometimes two at a time.
Kreator hit the audience with a selection of tracks that spanned the course of their decades-spanning career. They guys sounded tight and engaged with the crowd often. By the time the band retreated, the audience was spent. Luckily there was a bit of downtime during set changeover for them to rest up and regroup for the onslaught that was to come.
Check out our Kreator concert photo gallery below:
With “Fight for Your Right” by the Beastie Boys setting the tone, the stage was covered by a drape with “Testament” written across upon it. When the song ended and the lights went lights out, the drape was dropped and there stood Testament, emblazoned by red and white lights with huge puffs of smoke shooting straight into the air. Singer Chuck Billy stood on the middle riser and offered devil horns to the crowd, who lapped that up.
Testament wastes no time launching into “Eerie Inhabitants,” quickly followed by “The New Order,” both off of The New Order.
Chuck Billy seems to take great joy in reaching into his right pocket and pulling out guitar picks to toss out to the crowd as he walks along the length of the stage. Eager fans held their hands outstretched as he approached and were more often than not rewarded with a coveted pick.
Lead guitarist Alex Skolnick takes to the riser often to shred like his life depends on it, his fingers moving so swiftly along his guitar’s frets that they are almost a blur.
Rhythm guitarist Eric Peterson races around the right side of the stage as plumes of smoke fill the air. Bassist Steve Di Giorgio whips his long, blonde hair about and poses for the pit photographers. Newcomer drummer Chris Dovas sits perched on a high riser and provides the backbone of all of the classics we are witnessing tonight.
Billy announces that they’re taking it old school tonight and so they do. With a 14-track setlist comprised completely of songs from their first two albums, 1987’s The Legacy and 1988’s The New Order, it was definitely a night that took you back in time.
Though the tour is billed as being a “Klash,” the vibe was anything but. The evening conjured up the feeling of like-minded friends banding together for one big reunion party. All three bands appeared to be having the time of their lives, and judging from the smiles plastered to the sweaty faces of the crowd as they filed their way out of the venue and into the Dallas night, so did everyone else too.
Check out of concert gallery of Testament photos below:
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