Testament: Next Big Thing Has Headbangers in Awe

Your earplugs were useless. Your vibrating fillings ached. Little whitecaps skittered across the surface of your coffee. At the Country Club on Friday, the San Francisco thrash metal band Testament played so loudly that the sound was a palpable thing, and even the headbangers in the slam pit had that look of awe you might see on the face of a young surfer witnessing the 25-foot waves of Waimea for the first time.

In certain circles, Testament seems to be the Next Big Thing. They sing about the disappearing rain forest, just like Madonna, and get played a lot on MTV. Within the context of a genre where craftsmanship counts less than attitude, their songs have hooks and melodies, just like Phil Collins’. On stage, Testament doesn’t look like a thrash band--they wear tight rock-star clothing instead of Misfits T-shirts, and rely heavily on the effects produced by a smoke machine and moody spotlights. But mostly, Testament sounds just like Metallica these days. Their lyrics are really sensitive too, brooding in the way teen-age girls seem to enjoy, though there seemed to be only four or five women in the packed club. Maybe women listen to their ear doctors more closely.