Testament At The Van Buren, Phoenix, AZ April 8, 2026

Written by Ken Servais and Roc Boyum

Photos by Ken Servais

The Thrash of the Titans 2026 North American Tour promised to be a night of sonic aggression featuring thrash metal masters, Testament with support from fellow Thrash Metal heavy weights, Overkill and Destruction and there was no doubt that this would be the heaviest thrash metal tour of 2026. The tour rolled into Phoenix, AZ on April 08, with Testament bringing a shredding mix of material from their vast catalogue.

Filled to capacity, The Van Buren Theater was bursting with anticipation and excitement for this night of old school thrash metal with Destruction opening the night followed by American thrash metal band, Overkill. Both bands gave the Van Buren Theater crushing sets of old school thrash that will not soon be forgotten. 

As the members of Testament prepared backstage for their full scale onslaught, the sounds of speed/thrash metal giants Motorhead blasted over the PA with a song that is synonymous with name Motorhead “Ace of Spades.” Then, with a “Kabuki drop” (a theatrical special effect where a curtain or drape is abruptly released from above, causing it to fall to the stage floor in a fraction of a second) of the pentagram and skull curtain, the show was under way.

Testament kicked off their show with "Into The Pit," which got the mosh pit churning from their first note and immediately led to wave after wave of crowd surfers that is a hallmark of participation at Testament shows. The bodies seemed to just keep coming, one after another with multiple bodies cascading the barricade that kept the house security on their toes all night. Testament’s set was a great mix of songs culled from 10 of 14 studio LPs that included tracks from their latest 2025 release Para Bellum.

From Para Bellum the band assaulted the audience with a triple punch: “For the Love of Pain, Infanticide A.I. and Shadow People" respectively. Drummer Chris Dovas launched into “Shadow People” with his driving tom, tom infused rhythms that gave way to the assaulting guitar rhythms of  Alex Skolnick & Eric Peterson along with the thunderous under current bass by Steve DiGiorgio, When the haunting vocals of front-man Chuck Billy kick in, it becomes glaringly apparent why this song is quickly becoming a fan favorite and why Testament are still an in demand, live and on disk.

Three quarters through the show the band went back to their 2012 release Dark Roots of Earth with, "Native Blood," a song that touches deep with the indigenous people of the world, (along with those who have been bullied, faced hatred & felt suppressed) cranked up the intensity of the crowd. The crowd surfing continued with their relentless waves of bodies that seemed to be floating above the fans as they made their way towards the stage and stressing the limits of the security team to keep pace with surfers.

The evening drew to a close with the final song of the night from the band's very 1st album, The Legacy. A longtime favorite ..."Over The Wall" melted the faces of all in attendance with blistering guitars, and driving drums and bass!! Testament showed us first hand, that they put the "T" in THRASH!

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