No Mercy Fest - London Review 8 April

[Imagikafan]

I want to add one thing, which could be VERY contraversial, is that Steve Smyth did not impress me at all! Testament has always had the absolute finest lead guitarists, Skolnick and Murphy are two of the most talented players ever. I was therefore disappointed with what i saw of Smyth last night - Rhythm - sloppy and loose no signs of the tight palm muting that is a basic requirement of a metal guitarist, especially in Testament with Peterson's tight riffs. For example, the main famous riff of Burnt offerings was severely worsened by Smyth's lack of palm muting. As for solos, when you could hear them, bum notes were frequent and a lack of flair was apparent, ruining those great testament leads we all know and love. Now i don't know if he was having an off-ay but i was hugely disappointed by what i saw and i did not see that he was of the calibre that a band like Testament deserves. He is a very nice guy and was very friendly to me backstage and this is not a personal attack on him, i'm just expressing my disappointment. i felt the need to move to eric's side of the stage and watch him - i felt that Smyth seriously took away from the tightness of Testament's performance and i urge them to do something about it. Sorry to his fans.

Luckily for us, Testament doesn't make lineup changes based on the opinions of ignorant juveniles. Controversial? With idiotic posts like above, how can anyone take you seriously? I've seen Steve perform countless times in Testament, Dragonlord, and Sweet Leaf, and he is an excellent guitar player. In fact, I think the current Testament lineup is probably the strongest in the band's history. So, I urge you to refrain from posting here until you inherit some common sense.

-Mark

 

[hiddenlegions]

I have to agree with MindInsane, that is really jacked up how you totally slam the guy , his playing, and his performance for his fans, then say "it's nothing personal". I have never seen anyone on this board disrespect a member of Testament that hard. Just wanted to add my comments on this. Not starting a flame.

 

[Asgeir Mickelson]

was it just me or the terrible sound mix but i'm sure a heard a few fuck ups from the drummer.
am i wrong...?

No, you're not... Unfortunately I had a couple of fuckups. It's by all means no excuse, but being dizzy from jetlag + playing my first show with 12 songs makes it easy to mix up. And, my monitor sound SUCKED! Sounded like a swarm of bees...

It's much better now!

- Asgeir

 

[Macabre_Transmigrant]

Ok I'm sorry I was indeed extremely harsh and will revoke my previous comments about Steve, i should have been more constructive - Sorry Steve i've been listening to the leads on Dragonlord and they rule so it must have been the technical problems you mentioned. I don't ask for forgiveness or anything and on re-reading what i wrote, i deserve anything i receive *goes to find flame retardant suit*.

 

[MindInsane]

No need for the suit man, I'm done wicha:hotjump:

 

[Chuut-Riit]

Testament ruled at the show in Ludwigsburg..
Well, Death Angel were also very cool, and also Darkane (although Darkane were the first band to play and their performance suffered from very bad sound - this problem remained for three other bands, which were after Darkane: Malevolent Creation, who were dynamic on stage, Pro-Pain, enjoyable in spite of shitty sound and Nuclear Assault, who were kinda boring - I don't know why..)
Well, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter were kinda funny, but not as entertaining as I expected, after them came Death Angel (who did a cool and entertaining gig, as I already said), then Marduk (who where unnessecary and not fitting, but good to laugh about ) and last but not least Testament came, played, and owned - but their set was a bit too short.
That was a nice evening, since I got my copy of "first strike still deadly" signed by Chuck Billy and I am also on a group picture with Chuck Billy and the humandeath.de's webmasters friends
here's the link: http://www.humandeath.de/wm_chuck.jpg

 

[Bollox]

Hi all, another Brit to add to the Testament masses.
I've been a fan since the days of "The New Order".
Anyhow, that aside...I missed the London show (due to dislike of the Astoria venue) and decided to fly out and see the show at Switzerlands Z7 club! All you say about Nuclear Assaults John Connelly was still in conversation among alot of people here. I spoke to John himself about this during the night and he didnt deny any of it, didnt give any excuses either, was just a case of too much alcohol I guess, never the less, N Assault played a fucking blinder at the Z7!
As for Testament, met up with Chuck and Eric prior to the gig, had a few pics taken with Chuck (real glad he's getting back on track now) but felt a little reserved about approaching him and bothering him for the pics as he still didnt seem to be 100% yet!
Anyhow, Testament played a real great set, sound was excellent and Chuck was just a fucking animal onstage! Eric rocked out big time like a man possessed!
Shame the set was so short but I guess thats what happens when you are one of 8 bands on a bill.
Big thanks to Eric for the pick at the end of the show - always good to his word and remembers his loyal fans! The guys really appreciated that I'd travelled from England to see them, although they were humoured that I'd skipped the London gig for the reasons stated!
Shame alot of Brit venues cant learn from the Z7 venue in the fact that once you get your hand stamped you are free to wander in and out of the venue, so not restricted and cramped into one place for such long periods!