Nuclear Blast has announced the U.S. leg of “The Bay Strikes Back Tour” featuring thrash legends TESTAMENT, EXODUS and DEATH ANGEL. The 30-date trek will kick off on October 6 at the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, California and make stops in Austin, New York, and Detroit before concluding on November 27 at The Fox in Oakland.
TESTAMENT‘s Eric Peterson comments: “Finally we are able to announce this suspended tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic! We are totally excited to get out on the road again and continue where we left off supporting our newest release ‘Titans Of Creation’! Along with our brothers of thrash EXODUS and DEATH ANGEL! Get your tickets now! Horns up!!!!!”
EXODUS‘s Gary Holt states: “YES!! Finally back on the road! This time we are bringing ‘The Bay Strikes Back’ to our own shores with our good friend’s TESTAMENT and DEATH ANGEL! To say this is awesome would be an understatement! Cannot wait!!”
DEATH ANGEL comments: “At last the wait is over! We couldn’t be more pleased to announce the continuation of ‘The Bay Strikes Back Tour’ with our brother’s TESTAMENT and EXODUS! This leg takes us across the United States to bring our brand of Bay Area Thrash to live onstage, coming soon to a theater near you. Join us for a long-overdue release of some serious pent-up energy! We’re gonna blow the roof off these joints! Come be a part of these explosive performances. See you soon!”
A special BLABBERMOUTH.NET presale will begin on Tuesday, June 29 at 10:00 a.m. local and end on Tuesday, June 29 at 10:00 p.m. local time. When prompted, type in the presale code “TITANS” to access tickets before the general public. General on-sale will be this Thursday, July 1 at 10 a.m. local.
Before heading out on the tour, TESTAMENT will play the Blue Ridge Rock festival in Danville, Virginia on September 9.
Confirmed dates for “The Bay Strikes Back Tour” with TESTAMENT, EXODUS and DEATH ANGEL are:
Sep. 09 – Blue Ridge Rock Festival – Danville, VA **
Oct. 06 – Fremont Theater – San Luis Obispo, CA
Oct. 07 – Aftershock Festival – Sacramento, CA ^^
Oct. 08 – House Of Blues – San Diego, CA *
Oct. 10 – House Of Blues – Anaheim, CA *
Oct. 11 – Rialto Theatre – Tucson, AZ
Oct. 12 – Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM *
Oct. 14 – Diamond Ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK *
Oct. 15 – Gas Monkey Bar & Grill – Dallas, TX
Oct. 16 – Emo’s – Austin, TX *
Oct. 17 – White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX
Oct. 19 – House Of Blues – New Orleans, LA
Oct. 20 – Masquerade – Atlanta, GA *
Oct. 21 – The Ritz – Raleigh, NC
Oct. 22 – TLA – Philadelphia, PA *
Oct. 23 – Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, NJ *
Oct. 24 – Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
Oct. 26 – The Paramount – Huntington, NY *
Oct. 27 – House Of Blues – Boston, MA *
Oct. 28 – Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY
Oct. 29 – Madison Theater – Cincinnati, OH
Oct. 30 – The Agora – Cleveland, OH
Nov. 01 – Stage AE – Pittsburgh, PA
Nov. 02 – Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
Nov. 04 – The Majestic – Detroit, MI
Nov. 05 – The Forge – Joliet, IL *
Nov. 07 – Skyway Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
Nov. 09 – Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO *
Nov. 10 – The Depot – Salt Lake City, UT *
Nov. 11 – House Of Blues – Las Vegas, NV ^
Nov. 27 – The Fox – Oakland, CA
^^ Festival
^ No EXODUS
* Rescheduled TESTAMENT dates
~ No EXODUS & DEATH ANGEL
*Note* Tickets for the rescheduled TESTAMENT shows will be honored.
“Titans Of Creation” came out in April 2020 via Nuclear Blast. The disc was produced by Peterson and TESTAMENT singer Chuck Billy, while Juan Urteaga of Trident Studios handled co-producing, recording and engineering. Andy Sneap was responsible for the mixing and mastering of the album. Eliran Kantor stepped up once again to create new artwork for the cover of this release.
EXODUS‘s new album, “Persona Non Grata”, is tentatively due in November. It will be the follow-up to 2014’s “Blood In Blood Out”, which was the San Francisco Bay Area thrashers’ first release since the departure of the group’s lead singer of nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of Steve “Zetro” Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.
“Persona Non Grata” was recorded at a studio in Lake Almanor, California and was engineered by Steve Lagudi and EXODUS. It was produced by EXODUS and was mixed by Andy Sneap.
Last December, DEATH ANGEL streamed its seventh annual “Another Death Angel XMas Show” from The Great Northern in San Francisco.
This past January, DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll confirmed to EXODUS frontman Steve “Zetro” Souza‘s YouTube channel, Zetro’s Toxic Vault, that he and his bandmates have spent part of their coronavirus downtime putting together material for the follow-up to the Grammy-nominated “Humanicide” album.
Last October, DEATH ANGEL released a four-song EP, “Under Pressure”. The effort included a cover of QUEEN + David Bowie‘s “Under Pressure”, followed by a new track titled “Faded Remains”, plus acoustic versions of “Act III”‘s classic “A Room With A View” and “Humanicide”‘s “Revelation Song”. The EP was mixed by Max Norman (OZZY OSBOURNE, MEGADETH, BAD COMPANY) and mastered by Ted Jensen (LAMB OF GOD, MACHINE HEAD, HALESTORM).
Released in May 2019 via Nuclear Blast, “Humanicide” saw DEATH ANGEL returning to producer and friend Jason Suecof (DEICIDE, TRIVIUM) of Audiohammer studios for the recording and mixing, along with the mastering of the legendary Ted Jensen (SLIPKNOT, PANTERA) of Sterling Sound, who added the final touches and brought it all to life, with artist Brent Elliott White (LAMB OF GOD, MEGADETH) providing the ominous cover artwork.
In March 2020, Carroll spent almost two weeks on a ventilator in an intensive care unit at a Northern California hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. He first got sick when he and the rest of DEATH ANGEL spent more than a month on the road in Europe with TESTAMENT and EXODUS as part of “The Bay Strikes Back 2020” tour.
