Testament still thrashes

For more than two decades, the veteran rockers of Testament have been poised to enjoy the same kind of mega-success that has met their California speed/thrash metal peers Metallica and Slayer.

But just when they were on the verge, some calamity would befall them: the emergence of grunge, problems with record label executives or management, even cancer.

In 2001, the band’s hulking vocalist Chuck Billy was diagnosed with a massive tumor near his heart.

“Something kept getting in the way,” Billy said before the band’s show at San Juan Capistrano’s Coach House on Thursday night.

Now fully recovered, Billy displayed the tenacity of a resistance fighter at the performance, which showcased material from the group’s first studio album in nine years, “The Formation of Damnation,” due out April 29.

Testament will play the Key Club in West Hollywood tonight and Sunday.

Bands usually shrink from staging new songs before an album’s release, but Testament clearly trusted that the audience would respond favorably to the set list – which it did.

Shrouded in smoke, the five members of the group took the stage looking a little like cavemen dressed in black T-shirts.

The first four songs came from “Damnation”: the dark plod of “Killing Season,” the Metallica-esque epic rant of “The Evil Has Landed,” drummer Paul Bostaph’s rhino gallop on “More Than Meets the Eye” and his seismic midtempo rumble on “Henchmen Ride.”

In a 105-minute set (including encore), Testament naturally dug up a full assortment of the classic nuggets on which the band built its rep: speedy thrashers like “Over the Wall” and “Into the Pit.”

Prophet-haired, gnash-toothed lead guitarist Alex Skolnick, recalling Willem Dafoe in “The Last Temptation of Christ,” lavished a gorgeous intro upon the lurching “Trial by Fire” and showed off some butterfly improvisations on the dirgelike “Trail of Tears.”

Billy dedicated the song “to all my Native American brothers” while observing of Skolnick’s lyrical solo, “I know some of you metalheads don’t like that [stuff].”

Sticking out his tongue, fingering trademark air guitar on his sawed-off mike stand and often leaning a shoulder on stone-faced guitarist Eric Peterson, Testament’s only other consistent member through the years, Billy effortlessly connected with the enthusiastic audience.

He also came off as something of a comedian, making frequent jibes at the dining tables that obstructed what should have been the Coach House’s mosh pit area while Skolnick sarcastically strummed lounge-jazz chords.

Testament’s encore was an extended workout on the terror-obsessed slasher “Alone in the Dark,” from its first album, 1987’s “The Legacy.” Skinny bassist Greg Christian, all spidery fingers and pointy elbows, looked as if he were about to fly apart.

Afterward, Billy held on to the stage, still rallying the exhausted 2 a.m. faithful to the metal cause. Going away was the last thing on his mind.