Testament & Anthrax Announce North American Tour!

Today, there are some Heavy Music fans that think that Testament should be on the Big 4 instead of Anthrax. The reason that some believe this is because Anthrax lost some power after a dry period of eight years in which the fans kept waiting for a new album. Well, this dry period will come to an end when Anthrax present their highly anticipated new album entitled "Worship Music" on September 13: the day before the band plays The Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium.

On the other hand, Testament is set to release their tenth studio album titled "The Dark Roots" in February 2012 via German record label Nuclear Blast Records. The album features a reunion with former drummer Gene Hoglan (who previously appeared on the band's 1997 album "Demonic"); during the recording, he filled in for Paul Bostaph due to his "serious injury". Bostaph is expected to return to the band for the album's tour. Chris Adler of Lamb of God provided drum tracks as well.

Now the two Thrash Metal titans are joining forces on a North American tour! The two bands, who haven't toured together in more than a decade, are set to co-headline a U.S. tour beginning Friday, October 14 in Grand Rapids, MI and will conclude on Saturday, November 19 in Milwaukee, WI. Anthrax will close all shows, and Death Angel will be main support for the entire tour. The coast-to-coast trek will figure to decimate more than two dozen cities over a five-week period, with both Anthrax and Death Angel debuting brand new material from their new albums, both set for summer/fall release.

The Anthrax fan club presale begins today, and the public on-sale kicks off this Friday, September 9 at 10 AM local time.

"We've been tight with the guys in Testament for a long, long time, so we're really looking forward to hanging out with them on the road. And all of us in Anthrax are big Death Angel fans, so this is going to be a monster of a good time - for all of us and for the fans. Plus, with the incredible success of The Big Four shows over the last year, we wanted to tour with some of the 'second wave' of Thrash bands." - Anthrax's Charlie Benante.

"We're excited to do this tour because Anthrax was actually the first band we ever toured with. It's an accomplishment 20 odd years later that we're going to do it again. The tour kick-off date is actually about five days difference from the kick off date of the first tour 20 years ago. The first time we performed with Anthrax, we only had a total of ten songs, so obviously now we have many songs to pick from so it will be very different. It's good to see that a lot of the faces in the bands are the same as back when we first did this original tour 20 years ago." - Testament vocalist Chuck Billy

Dates are subject to change and more will be announced - the itinerary for the Anthrax/Testament/Death Angel Fall 2011 tour is as follows:

OCTOBER:

- 14 at Orbit Room, Grand Rapids, MI
- 15 at Congress Theatre, Chicago, IL
- 16 at First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
- 18 at The Cotillion, Wichita, KS
- 19 at Summit Music Hall, Denver, CO
- 22 at Nokia LA Live, Los Angeles, CA
- 23 at Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA
- 24 at House of Blues, San Diego, CA
- 26 at Sunshine Theatre, Albuquerque, NM
- 28 at South Side Music Hall, Dallas, TX
- 29 at Emo's East, Austin, TX
- 30 at Warehouse Live, Houston, TX

NOVEMBER:

- 1 at House of Blues, Orlando, FL
- 2 at Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
- 4 at House of Blues, Myrtle Beach, SC
- 5 at Fillmore Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
- 6 at The Fillmore, Silver Spring, MD
- 8 at Northern Lights, Clifton Park, NY
- 10 at Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
- 11 at Palladium, Worcester, MA
- 15 at Town Ballroom, Buffalo, NY
- 17 at Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA
- 19 at Rave, Milwaukee, WI

Related links:
Testament
Antrax
Death Angel