Thrash of the Titans
Thrash of the Titans was a
Master of Ceremonies for the evening was S.O.D. vocalist Billy Milano
. The concert was organized by Walter Morgan. The show was announced in May 2001, and all 2300 tickets quickly sold out.
The concert focused primarily on
Bay Area thrash metal, a popular and influential metal scene in the 1980s and early 1990s (of which Testament played a big part), and featured the reunions of then-defunct Bay Area bands Heathen, Death Angel, Vio-lence (minus Robb Flynn, who declined to participate), Forbidden Evil, Sadus, Legacy (an early version of Testament), and then partially defunct Exodus (with Paul Baloff). As a result of the show, Exodus, Heathen and Death Angel all officially reunited and released new albums. Forbidden would reunite again in 2007 and released a new album
three years later.
Also appearing at the concert were
Oakland
the next week, and that tickets to the Thrash of the Titans would be honored.
Beginning with Heathen at 3 pm, the show featured ten bands, with Legacy taking the stage just after 2am. Legacy, a precursor to Testament, featured
Steve DiGiorgio, bassist for Sadus and formerly of Death, Autopsy and Iced Earth. Chuck Billy himself joined Legacy for the last song of the night, "Into the Pit". The show featured many other guest appearances, including Steve Souza joining Exodus and Paul Baloff for a duet on "Brain Dead". Thrash of the Titans marked one of the last live appearances of Exodus frontman Paul Baloff, who died of a stroke just six months later, on February 2, 2002. Death's Chuck Schuldiner
also died of brain cancer four months after the benefit, on December 13, 2001.
Performers
In order of appearance:
- Heathen
- Flotsam and Jetsam
- Sadus
- Forbidden Evil
- Death Angel
- Exodus (with Paul Baloff)
- S.O.D.
- Anthrax
- Vio-lence
- Steve DiGiorgio, Greg Christian, and Chuck Billy)
See also
References
- ^ "August 11 2001 Thrash Of The Titans". www.emptywords.org. Retrieved October 28, 2020.