Judas Priest + Heaven and Hell + Motörhead + Testament

Judas Priest

Photograph: Steve Schofield

Nikon at Jones Beach Theater; Sun 10

Everything old is new again: a cliché that’s truer than ever in metal. The hottest tour so far this summer was last month’s unexpected At the Gates reunion; even more keenly anticipated is the return of Carcass in September. And who’da thunk the hottest metal bill of the year would be a package starring 17 geezers—including one actually called Geezer?

Of course, nobody’s going to accuse that legendary bassist, born Terence Butler, or his Heaven and Hell bandmates—erstwhile members of Black Sabbath all—of resting on their laurels. Their latest release, The Rules of Hell, is a swanky Dio-era Sabbath box, but the rejuvenated quartet, which sold out Radio City last year, is currently working on an all-new album.

What’s surprising is that the other three bands on this bill are showing similar signs of afterlife. Judas Priest, which stole 2004’s Ozzfest from the Sabs, has just issued Nostradamus, a concept-driven two-CD epic that impresses, even if it screams less for vengeance than for Cirque du Soleil treatment. (Mind you, we’re quoting Rob Halford himself on that point.)

Motörizer, the approximately 485th album by Motörhead, proves as aptly as its 484 predecessors that no one mixes metal and punk better than Lemmy Kilmister (and also that no one will ever write another “Ace of Spades”). And Testament’s The Formation of Damnation is a hard-edged revival for this quintessential thrash act.