The Thrash of the Titans Tour, with Testament headlining, rolls in old London town, with what promised to be one of the best metal gigs of the year….it has a lot to live up to. Did it deliver?
It’s another early start at the Forum tonight and the area is already full of metalheads milling around Kentish Town. Most are in the pubs around the venue, preparing for an evening of truly international, supercharged metal. However, a fair few have made it into the venue early in order to catch the openers tonight, Nervosa from Brazil. Wise decision because this is a band that definitely kicks arse!
NERVOSA
Hailing from Sao Paulo originally and having been through numerous line-up changes, with Prika Amaral being ever present, the band has now settled as a four piece and they sound super squeaky tight this evening.
Seed Of Death starts with a rather nice introduction but soon develops into a thrash metal anthem, played at furious pace. Those members of the audience who have made the effort to get into the venue early feel vindicated and show their appreciation with lots of clapping and a good show of horns! The set is short but a very good showcase for the band, highlighting how they have successfully married thrash with more melodic elements without losing the edge that makes the music essential listening.
The set is is over 50% from the current Jailbreak album with a flurry of older songs sandwiched in the middle. While the older songs are simpler they still sound pretty good this evening and fit the Thrash Of The Titans moniker. It is the new songs that really shine though, showing a maturity in the writing and fine sensibilities when it comes to a catchy riff. The song Endless Ambition is a great example of this, still hard hitting but great hooks and lots of scope for head nodding! Jailbreak is dedicated “to all the metalheads” (pretty much everyone in the crowd!) and Amaral comments that being on this tour is a dream come true.
DESTRUCTION
So, a fine start to the evening and a great warmup. I should have mentioned that the stage is supercrowded with all sorts of paraphenalia, from smoke cannons, spark cannons, lights and all manner of other “stuff”. This means that both Nervosa and upcoming Destruction are limited to the first quarter of the stage, the drumkit taking centre stage.
After a brief pause and a change of cymbals, the lights go down and Destruction take to the stage. With this band, you know what you’re going to get, well executed thrash with a nod to more mainstream influences and a smidgeon of punk attitude. All of the band look very happy to be playing with big smiles. There’s lots of posing on the stage, synchronized guitar swings and headbanging.
The crowd are now in full swing, with some crowd surfing just creeping in to keep the security at the front of the stage busy. Nailed To The Cross has the room singing along to the infectious chorus. Scumbag Human Race from the current album Birth Of Malice pulls no punches on the lyric front, with music perfectly matched to the sentiment.
No Kings No Masters is introduced by Schmier as he references shitty politicians and the troubles in the world today. The song is delivered with furious pace and gives rise to a flurry of fists punching the air to accompany the chorus. Rousing stuff and the crowd is lapping it up. The dual guitar attack of Damir Eskic and Martin Furi fills the venue.
Smoke blasts fill the stage at intervals, Thrash Til Death sounds like a rallying cry, once again the crowd reacts with roars, clapping, fists punching the air and horns aloft. As the set continues, the surfing really cranks up, the security doing a fine job of ensuring everyone is safely delivered back to the crowd (ready for them to have another go!)
Finishing with the song Destruction also from the current album, leaves everyone with a lasting impression. While never really breaking into the big time, Destruction remain, even after all these years, as a formidable unit, forensically precise, uncompromising musically and simply great entertainment. I’d definitely love to see more of them in the UK.
OBITUARY
As Destruction leave the stage and the lights come up, there is an army of people on the stage preparing it for Obituary. This will give them more space to move around but all of the kit at the front of the stage remains. The venue now fills with haze as the smoke machines on the stage are put into overdrive. Judging by the number of people I can see with Obituary t-shirts, this is likely to be the band a fair proportion of the audience has come to see and the venue is now full, with very little space to move around.
The lights go down and we’re straight into Redneck Stomp from the 2005 album Frozen in Time. As the sound changes with Obituary’s classic fuzzed audio onslaught, so there is a slight change in the atmosphere in the venue, with a noticeable increase in the testosterone levels. The number of surfers also peaks and there is a small army of security folk at the front, fielding everyone coming over the barrier.
John Tardys vocals roar out from the PA as he picks his way around the detritus on the stage, preferring to spend most of the set right at the front, leaning over into the audience. The music, care of Trevor Peres on rhythm guitar, Terry Butler on bass and Donald Tardy on drums is thickly layered and crushingly heavy. The slower passages in particular making an impression on my ears but it is the fast parts that cause the most impact on the crowd with pits and surfing galore!
The solos of Ken Andrews complete the sound, screaming, whammy barred excellence! John Tardy and Andrews are clearly having a good time with Tardy trying to pull Andrews to centre stage on numerous occasions, Andrews resists the attempts though, preferring to stay out of the main limelight on stage left. Donald Tardy stands on his stool arms raised every now and again, clearly revelling in the sound and audience response.
A Lesson in Vengeance with its groovy rhythm has the whole room bouncing along, the set is mainly composed of older songs (which is definitely appreciated by the crowd) with only The Wrong Time making it into the set from the current album Dying of Everything. Indeed a fair proportion of the set comes from the 1990 album Cause of Death, this is not a bad thing, it is classic Obituary.
The set is concluded, as is expected, with Slowly We Rot. It is greeted with cheers and more pits and surfing. Obituary leave the stage, pick throwing along with set lists and even a towel! The crowd have witnessed an impressive performance almost text book Obituary and just what they came here to hear.
Once again, an army of people on the stage disassemble the drumkit and re-assemble the Testament kit. Then a curtain is thrown down for the set dressing to take place in private and the scene is set for the conclusion of the evening. Strangely, the crowd actually thins out a little post Obituary. quite weird in my opinion. While I appreciate there is a bit of a chasm between Obituary and Testament musically and soundwise, they are both at the top of their game and definitely both worth catching live. Hey ho…..
TESTAMENT
So, we have the Beastie Boys track Fight for Your Right as an intro which the crowd sings along with and then once again, the lights go down and the curtain drops to reveal Testament already on stage and launching into DNR. which is a fine way to get the set going. The stage is dressed too, with a massive backdrop and an inflatable demon behind the extremely large drumkit!
Testament sound completely on point, the dual guitar attack of Eric Peterson & Alex Skolnick filling the Forum. This is complimented by a rhythm section that sounds like they were locked together at birth – Steve Di Giorgio on fretless bass & Chris Dovas on drums. Dovas needs a special mention, filling some big boots of previous drummers, he does a fantastic job and keeps the whole band uber tight.
As ever, Chuck Billy takes centre stage, looking relaxed and happy. He gestures to the audience, pointing, smiling and raising horns in equal measure. There can be no doubt this is a man on a mission to play his heart out this evening. Practice What You Preach keeps the crowd happy, lots of head banging and singing along. Low is a personal favourite of mine, great to see it included in the set.
More Than Meets the Eye is another crowd pleaser with a riff and chant that begs to be sung along with. The crowd obliges and there is a general good feeling permeating the venue. Alex Skolnick is up on a riser more than he is on the stage, spotlight picking out his intricate guitar work. Eric Peterson is no less technical but doesn’t get quite the same spotlight treatment.
We get a very impressive drum solo, not too long so as to get boring (although personally, I could listen to drum solos all evening!) Dovas really does have a nice touch, technically perfect but he also introduces some life and soul into the drums, most impressive. Steve Di Giorgio sneaks in to add some cymbal work too! The solo mutates into First Strike is Deadly, another crowd pleaser and by this time the pits and surfers are in full flow again.
Billy introduces the new song Infanticide A.I. from the just released album Para Bellum and a new backdrop is unveiled (along with removal of the inflatable demon!). Cracking song, fiercely delivered, this can only bode well for the future. This is followed by another new song, “Shadow People”. Both go down well with the crowd and I would guess they will included in future setlists.
Return to Serenity slows things down a little and shows a slightly different side to the band. It also gives Skolnick another opportunity to pull out some impressive soloing, once again in the spotlight. There is some nice interplay between Skolnick and Peterson, both in their playing and also the way they interact on stage, this kind of camaraderie only comes when you’ve been in the same band for years with the same people.
We get smoke cannons pushing smoke up from the front of the stage and sparkler cannons too plus an impressive lighting show and great stage dressing, the whole package is very well put together and combined with a set of great supports and Testament sounding as good as I’ve ever seen them it makes for a very intense evening of entertainment. The set concludes with a roaring version of Into the Pit which fires up the crowd once more and is a cracking conclusion to the evening. No complaints here!
The Thrash of the Titans Tour now rolls into Central Europe and has dates right up to late October 2025. Full details can be found here.
All concert photography by Graham Hilling. You can check out more of his work on his website, here.
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