The third week in January can only mean one thing: the annual NAMM convention takes over Anaheim, CA. The ultimate gathering for music, sound, and event technology, NAMM not only lets you discover new gear, connect with industry pros, and be inspired by everything that makes music happen, it is also the breeding ground for many all-star live events that happen each night due to all the musicians in town together which makes for unforgettable, once in a lifetime onstage memories.
Metal Allegiance is one of those enchanted events, a star-studded team of heavy metal musicians, spawned from the Metal Masters clinics by former Marketing Director at Samson Technologies, Mark Menghi. Metal Allegiance started as a live revolving door of musicians from the metal brotherhood of bands like Megadeth, Testament, Winery Dogs, Anthrax, Death Angel, Sepultura, and Exodus. The band assembled back in 2015 and again in 2018 to record two killer original albums led by the “core four” of Mark Menghi, Alex Skolnick (Testament), David Ellefson (Kings of Thrash), and Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), which featured many guest vocalists. Metal Allegiance does very limited live shows due to the schedules of all the different band members, but once gathered in Anaheim at The House of Blues on Thursday night, January 22, it was surely the setting for another legendary heavy metal performance.
The 2026 Metal Allegiance performance included the following participants:
The “CORE Four”: Mark Menghi – Bass | Mike Portnoy (DREAM THEATER) – Drums | Alex Skolnick (TESTAMENT) – Guitar | David Ellefson (KINGS OF THRASH) – Bass
Vocalists: John Bush (ARMORED SAINT) | Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT) | Troy Sanders (MASTODON) | William Duvall (ALICE IN CHAINS) | Alissa White-Gluz (former ARCH ENEMY) | Phil Demmel (KERRY KING)
Guitarists: Andreas Kisser (SEPULTURA) | Doc Coyle (GOD FORBID) | Phil Demmel (KERRY KING)}
Bass Players: Jack Gibson (EXODUS) | Becky Baldwin (MERCYFUL FATE)
Drummers: Chris Dovas (TESTAMENT)
The show kicked off with a Metal Allegiance introduction by Metal DJ Will to fire up the crowd, and the first wave of musicians hit the stage with John Bush on vocals with “The CORE Four” and Andreas Kisser on second guitar blasting through two Metal Allegiance originals – “The Accuser” and “Bound by Silence”. A fabulous way to start the evening as the crowd was getting restless and starting to get rowdy in the mosh pit early on. Hot off his “John Bush plays Anthrax” mini-tour, Bush proves night after night he is one of metals premier vocalists, sounding as strong and powerful as ever.
Next, Bush was swapped out with Testament vocalist Chuck Billy to continue the Metal Allegiance originals “Can’t Kill the Devil” and “Gift of Pain” with Phil Demmel now out onstage making for a killer set of tunes led by a few of the Bay Area’s finest. Metal Allegiance veteran Troy Sanders from Mastodon closed out the first batch of Metal Allegiance originals (which all kick ass BTW) before going into the first cover song of the night, a blistering version of Megadeth’s “Hangar 18” with David Ellefson on bass.
There is always the risk of a surprise guest at Metal Allegiance shows, and this year did not disappoint as Alice in Chains vocalist William Duvall came out to jam the AIC banger “Last of My Kind” before the band played an original that was released a week prior with Duvall on vocals, “Black Horizon”. You can’t have a heavy metal party without some Thin Lizzy, and Duvall reminded everyone that “The Boys Are Back in Town” along with the guitar trio of Kisser, Demmel, and Doc Coyle, with Ellefson and Portnoy holding down the rhythm section.
Now about halfway through this heavy metal carnival, the atmosphere was electric and things were about to get a bit heavier as Chuck Billy took over vocals again, Chris Dovas gave Portnoy a break on drums with Alex Skolnick on guitar (that’s 3/5 of Testament onstage) and Mercyful Fate bass player Becky Bladwin played the intro to “Souls of Black” as the crowd get extra rowdy with the biggest pit of the night. The intensity was maintained as the same group went into Sepultura’s “Roots Bloody Roots” with Kisser leading the way on guitar.
After that two-song tornado of aggression, things slowed down a bit as Alissa White-Gluz came out and sang a beautiful version of Soundgarden’s “The Day I Tried to Live”, this really gave the fans an example of White-Gluz’s vocal diversity as most only know her for her guttural vocal delivery from her time in Arch Enemy. Next up was a highlight of the night as White-Gluz partnered up with non-other than Phil Demmel for a vocal duet of the Metal Allegiance original “Scars” (originally sung by Mark Osegueda and Cristina Scabbia on the record). Demmel killed his vocal parts while jamming on guitar; he looked and sounded like a true frontman. The man can play in any metal band, and he certainly has vocal talent (go check out the band Torque (offshoot of Vio-lence), where Demmel sang all vocals).
Any Metallica cover is always fun, and Troy Sanders led the way with a brutal version of “Whiplash” and then, without a doubt, the standout vocal performance of the night as John Bush absolutely killed a cover of Iron Maiden’s “Purgatory” – WOW, just WOW did he nail those Paul Di’Anno screams. The set ended with the Metal Allegiance anthem “Pledge Your Allegiance” again fronted by John Bush.
A three-song encore celebrated two huge losses the metal world experienced in 2025 – Ace Frehley and Ozzy Osbourne. Chuck Billy and William Duvall shared vocals on “Shock Me,” then Duvall sang “Fairies Wear Boots” before ALL the performers took the stage to end the night with “Crazy Train” with all performers trading off their respective parts.
The entire 2-hour performance was EPIC . . . getting to see these thrash/heavy metal legends play together was beyond amazing – EVERY song was a unique metal masterpiece. The 2026 show once again flowed from song to song as there was little to no “wait-time” in between songs, as the artists rotated on and off stage with ease. This was truly a larger-than-life night of heavy metal, and it was wonderful to see the brotherhood and friendship come out on stage between all these musicians – lots of laughing, joking, high fives, just an amazing experience to see these performers honoring each other as well as some of their heavy metal heroes – and of course the fans LOVED this as well. Each year, Metal Allegiance puts together a show that tops the previous year’s, and with that said, January 2027 cannot come fast enough.
Opening the show was heavy metal rockers Lost Legacy all the way from The Bronx in New York. These gentlemen did a fine job kicking off the evening and warming up the early birds with a heavy dose of thrash-infused metal. This was Lost Legacy’s second time opening a Metal Allegiance show, and let’s have them back in the future. Next was another East Coast band, Virginia’s Red Reign, bringing a bit more melodic element to their flavor of metal. They built off the momentum Lost Legacy created. Then South Florida’s hottest band, Chained Saint, took the stage and just raged through their set, getting the crowd moving with the perfect combination of Punk/Thrash-infused metal.
Lost Legacy
Red Reign
Chained Saint
METAL ALLEGIANCE Setlist:
The Accuser (Metal Allegiance)
Bound by Silence (Metal Allegiance)
Can’t Kill the Devil (Metal Allegiance)
Gift of Pain (Metal Allegiance)
Let Darkness Fall (Metal Allegiance)
Hangar 18 (Megadeth)
Liars & Thieves (Metal Allegiance)
Last of My Kind (Alice in Chains)
Black Horizon (Metal Allegiance)
The Boys Are Back in Town (Thin Lizzy)
Souls of Black (Testament)
Roots Bloody Roots (Sepultura)
The Day I Tried to Live (Soundgarden)
Scars (Metal Allegiance)
Whiplash (Metallica)
Purgatory (Iron Maiden)
Pledge Of Allegiance (Metal Allegiance)
Shock Me (KISS)
Faires Wear Boots (Black Sabbath)
Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne)
Metal Allegiance
