Testament -- Cincinnati, OH -- May 18th, 2009

[Fe Maiden]

Originally Posted by jhdeity

Good point. The Ritual was an extension of Souls of Black to me. They lost their edge and lost a huge part of their fan base in the process. Sure they gained a few soccer moms with Return to Serenity but the damage they did at that point is a main reason there were only 300 people at the show last night.

Where is that ignore switch again?

[SerpentineVIVIVI]

Originally Posted by jhdeity

Good point. The Ritual was an extension of Souls of Black to me. They lost their edge and lost a huge part of their fan base in the process. Sure they gained a few soccer moms with Return to Serenity but the damage they did at that point is a main reason there were only 300 people at the show last night.

If I wasn't passionate about this I wouldn't care. It sucked to have such a small crowd there but there were very few pits and tons of headbanging. I loved it

The fan base should have realized that was just treading into different waters, and Low began a different tread all together. Formation is them coming full round again.

But to get back Souls of Black the song, you don't have to have the best lyrics in the world to make it a well constructed song. The delivery in the end is what makes it. Look at Cannibal Corpse. Their lyrics are nothing but brutal, gruesome, sometimes even humorous murder/death images, and in comparison to other death metal bands' lyrics, they are pretty over the top sometimes (not saying other death metal bands dont have brutal lyrics). In the end, it doesn't matter what the hell they are talking about, its that Corpsegrinder fucking rips on those words and makes em sound fucking powerful. They said it themselves, "It's not like the lyrics are meant to be taken super seriously", they are not telling people to seriously strip rape and strangle someone, or smash a hammer into someone's face.

The comparison might be a bit of a stretch, but it makes my point. Delivery > Lyrics anyday. So there really is no need to flame on FeMaiden because he enjoys hearing songs like Souls of Black live, as do I. And there is also nothing wrong with You've Got Another Thing Coming. Is the trend now to start hating on songs that become popular? A person can like everything a band has to offer and not limit themselves to solely listening to certain albums/songs.

[Fe Maiden]

Originally Posted by jhdeity

Dude I've officially lost ALL respect for you. I responded to your personal message and explained my point perfectly I thought. I'm not here to flame people but you're a total flamer for saying something so feminine. Clay Aiken called and wants his sack back.

You're the guy who yells YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER THING COMING at Priest shows and disgusts everyone around them. Seriously educate yourself on testament and maybe you would rather hear a well constructed song with clever lyrics rather than fodder.

No you did not explain perfectly! You sir are truly an

[es156]

jhdeity, Fe Maiden, it's time to chill....

[gilpdawg]

Originally Posted by jhdeity

Good point. The Ritual was an extension of Souls of Black to me. They lost their edge and lost a huge part of their fan base in the process. Sure they gained a few soccer moms with Return to Serenity but the damage they did at that point is a main reason there were only 300 people at the show last night.

If I wasn't passionate about this I wouldn't care. It sucked to have such a small crowd there but there were very few pits and tons of headbanging. I loved it

It absoutely sucked to have small crowds on this tour, but to say it's because of Return to Serenity is kind of a stretch. If anything it helped them. That's how I first heard of them (I'm probably younger than most of you guys in this thread and didn't get into metal until 94-95ish) and then discovered the "good" stuff. But my point is, I don't think there's 500 people out there who said "man, I would go see Testament, but fuck that, they recorded a ballad in 1992."

[jhdeity]

Originally Posted by gilpdawg

It absoutely sucked to have small crowds on this tour, but to say it's because of Return to Serenity is kind of a stretch. If anything it helped them. That's how I first heard of them (I'm probably younger than most of you guys in this thread and didn't get into metal until 94-95ish) and then discovered the "good" stuff. But my point is, I don't think there's 500 people out there who said "man, I would go see Testament, but fuck that, they recorded a ballad in 1992."

There's a reason a band that has so many great songs who just put out one of the best cd's of 2008 can't sell tickets and I was just specualting on one of the reasons why. The promoter who booked the show told me he expected to sell 1500 tickets and as of 2 weeks ago he had only sold 400 and lost his ass. They move the show from Rams Head to Recher and less than the original 400 actually show. Close to 100 people bought tickets to the 1st show and just didn't go once it got moved. There were barely 300 people there for a band I consider to be one of the best bands of all time. Chuck Billy is incredibly powerful live, Skolnick has a huge following (dude has to lose the 101 dalmation hair though) and the star of the night when I saw them was Paul Bostaph. He absolutely KILLED it. This band has everything you would want to see live but no one is going. Apparently they're having sparse crowds every other night and have talked about cancelling some shows.

Like I said in another thread if they booked the tour as a New Order tour it would have sold better but people who miss this tour are really missing a great show. Lazarus are incredible if you like 80's thrash. If Kill em all is one of your favorite cd's, you'll love these guys. Unearth is trying to be A7X and failed. I seriously doubt I'll ever see them again or buy another cd.

The 2nd biggest mystery to me is why isn't Testament playing more stuff from the new cd? They play as many songs off Gathering as the new cd and those are James Murphy's leads. Nothing off Low? Isn't Low one of their best cd's?

I don't think I've ever left a show with more questions than this show but I'd still highly recommend people go and see it.

[Fe Maiden]

Originally Posted by es156

jhdeity, Fe Maiden, it's time to chill....

I'm over it. I know I will enjoy hearing songs that I like live so that is what is most important to me. If someone thinks I'm lame for that well, then that's just their problem!

[jhdeity]

Originally Posted by Fe Maiden

I'm over it. I know I will enjoy hearing songs that I like live so that is what is most important to me. If someone thinks I'm lame for that well, then that's just their problem!

Hell yeah Fe Fe that's the way to be.

Jam out with your clam out!

[Fe Maiden]

Originally Posted by jhdeity

Hell yeah Fe Fe that's the way to be.

Jam out with your clam out!

[jhdeity]

Originally Posted by SerpentineVIVIVI

The fan base should have realized that was just treading into different waters, and Low began a different tread all together. Formation is them coming full round again.

But to get back Souls of Black the song, you don't have to have the best lyrics in the world to make it a well constructed song. The delivery in the end is what makes it. Look at Cannibal Corpse. Their lyrics are nothing but brutal, gruesome, sometimes even humorous murder/death images, and in comparison to other death metal bands' lyrics, they are pretty over the top sometimes (not saying other death metal bands dont have brutal lyrics). In the end, it doesn't matter what the hell they are talking about, its that Corpsegrinder fucking rips on those words and makes em sound fucking powerful. They said it themselves, "It's not like the lyrics are meant to be taken super seriously", they are not telling people to seriously strip rape and strangle someone, or smash a hammer into someone's face.

The comparison might be a bit of a stretch, but it makes my point. Delivery > Lyrics anyday. So there really is no need to flame on FeMaiden because he enjoys hearing songs like Souls of Black live, as do I. And there is also nothing wrong with You've Got Another Thing Coming. Is the trend now to start hating on songs that become popular? A person can like everything a band has to offer and not limit themselves to solely listening to certain albums/songs.

I don't disagree with your point but Chuck Billy delivers every song with tenacity and fire so why not play songs that will translate better live? Trial by Fire is their most known song and they don't play it often because Chuck doesn't want to I read. He's tired of it, the same way me and my friends are deathly tired of Souls of Black. I just used the 2nd grade chorus as a quick example but the point of all of this is simple.

If 1 person threw the Souls of Black CD in and remembered or discovered what a great song Seven Days of May is then I accomplished what I was trying to. I've been turned onto some great music through here and recently downloaded the Ghoul catalog based on a post from the MD Deathfest thread and can't stop listening to it.

My other point was if you're at a Priest show and the guy to your left yells You've got another thing coming and the guy on your right yells Island of Domination, who do you respect more? Who would you have an in-depth passionate conversation about music with? I've met some great people at shows and none of them were there to heara song that has been overplayed 10K times that's all. These are the same people who stare aimlessly when Beyond the Realms of Death is being played. Sad...

I'm no barney bad-ass by any stretch but I've been to shows where I was standing, jamming out and some poser behind me yelled for me to sit down and actually went and got security to try to sit me down. I'd rather be shot on the spot than sit at a concert so if that makes me an asshole, that's me. That happened at a Tool show last year and I asked the sword swallower to name 3 Tool songs other than Sober and he couldn't. So if my tolerance for posers isn't that high, there are reasons behind it.