“The future of heavy metal”: America’s Got Talent viral metal star and 11-year-old shredder Maya Neelakantan joins Testament onstage

Maya Neelakantan has had quite a year. From appearing on America's Got Talent to stunning audiences with her metal-meets-sitar interpretation of Metallica’s Master of Puppets, she is quickly establishing herself as a masterful shredder despite her young age.

This past week, Neelakantan further cemented her rising star status with a surprise appearance at a Testament concert, where she performed Curse of the Legions of Death [from 1987's The Legacy] alongside the band at their House of Blues concert in Las Vegas last Friday (September 13).

“Once my AGT finished, now that I was free, I was able to go to the Testament concert in Las Vegas! I’ve never been to a heavy metal concert so I thought it’ll be a great opportunity! I texted Eric Peterson [Testament's rhythm guitarist] and we thought it would be really fun if I could jam a song together with the band,” Neelakantan recounts.

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“He picked a really fast old-school thrash metal song Curse of the Legions of Death for me and he even showed me the riffs and taught me his solo so I can play that together with Alex Skolnick on stage.”

The young shredder goes on to say that the song features the fastest alternate picking she has ever played. She tackled the challenge head-on, as evidenced by her electrifying performance, wielding her Gibson Dave Mustaine Flying V EXP. Testament frontman Chuck Billy even called her “the future of heavy metal”.

Over the past two years, Neelakantan has caught the attention of many metal and prog rock heavyweights. In addition to Testament’s endorsement, she has recently hung out with Slayer and Exodus guitarist Gary Holt, received a nod of approval from Tool guitarist Adam Jones – who gifted her one of his signature Gibson Les Pauls – and was given the rare go-ahead by Metallica to cover one of their biggest songs on America's Got Talent.