By Craig Lindberg

November 11^th, 2011.

Numerologists, doomsayers and armchair Nostradami have made numerous predictions and offered endless opinions as to what the significance of this numerical coincidence could mean.

Good luck?

Bad luck?

The end of the world as we know it?

When the night came to an end and all was said and done, the day would be remembered, in Worcester, Massachusetts anyway, as a good day for metal.

Not hard-core, not scream-core, not Blink 182-3-4-5, but good, old fashioned, get in the pit, knock ‘em down, help’ em up metal…performed to perfection by three legends of the genre: Death Angel, Testament and the mighty Anthrax.

Death Angel took the stage first, setting a blistering tone for the night. Easily the most obscure and underrated band of the night, Death Angel never enjoyed the mainstream success that their peers on the bill have. Nonetheless, those in the know regard Death Angel as an exceptional thrash band ~ and they did not disappoint.

Testament was next and they wasted no time getting the crowd moving with their classic “The Preacher” off their 1987 ~ yes, you read that right ~ 1987 debut The Legacy. The floor of The Palladium was a sea of hair and sleeveless denim. Testament continued churning out the staples that made them gods to all those who love metal: “Over the Wall,” “Souls of Black,” and, of course, “Into the Pit.”

Finally, after much anticipation, Anthrax took the stage, opening with “Worship” and “The Devil May Know” off their latest studio album, Worship Music. This riled up the already energetic crowd, but it wasn’t until the crunch of their third song, the head bangers’ anthem “Caught in a Mosh,” that things got out of control.

By the end of the night it was hard to tell who held more respect and admiration for whom ~ the legion of fans who packed The Palladium to witness the return of their heroes or the legendary metal gods who seemed, at times, awed by the energy they received back from their devoted followers, young and old.

Yes, it was a good day for metal.

Photos by Jenna Lindberg