Perhaps inspired by the fact that he was playing a venue that is literally called History, Testament vocalist Chuck Billy had history on his mind as he and his bandmates took to the stage at the East End venue on Thursday night.
Scanning the crowd, Billy, presumably recognizing a few faces or at least acknowledging that there were a lot of longtime fans in attendance, commented that “a lot of us here have a lot of history together.” He went on to comment that they’ve been doing this for 38 years and added, “Tonight it’s nothing but old school San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal!”
Testament are currently on tour alongside fellow ’80s thrash survivors Kreator and Possessed for the Klash of the Titans tour, which did indeed see the band playing nothing but old school thrash – their setlist was comprised entirely of songs from their first two albums, 1987’s The Legacy and 1988’s The New Order. Being more of a Practice What You Preach guy, I wouldn’t have minded a more well-rounded set that touched on some of their later albums too, but for longtime fans or those too young to have heard those albums played the first time around, this was certainly a unique show and one to look forward to, since a lot of these tunes would have been taken out of rotation from the live show years ago.
And it all sounded great, with songs like “The Preacher,” “A Day of Reckoning” and “Do or Die” standing out as highlights. That’s hardly surprising though with impressive players like Alex Skolnick, Eric Peterson, and Steve DiGiorgio shredding away throughout. Not to be left out, drummer Chris Dovas, the new guy in the band, also had his moment to shine in the form of a mid-set drum solo. For his part, Billy was an engaging and gregarious frontman who seemed to be having a hell of a lot of fun up there as he and his bandmates ran through a set full of old school classics from their early days.
Of course, the other titans on the Klash of the Titans tour were co-headliners Kreator, who unlike their tourmates, played a selection of tunes from throughout their career. Another way they differed from their tourmates? Well, let’s just say that while Testament’s stage design was impressive in its own right, they were severely lacking in giant inflatable demons flanking the stage.
“Toronto! The Kreator has returned!” bellowed Mille Petrozza as the German thrashers took to the stage, welcoming us all to the show.
Very shortly after that, Petrozza instructed the crowd that it was time for the first wall of death of the night, letting the crowd know that once he counted to four, it would then be time for them to instigate a “total massacre, Canadian-style!” On the second song, no less. This guy doesn’t waste any time.
The band put on an impressive and energetic performance. Having seen Kreator before, I already knew Petrozza to be an enthusiastic frontman, delivering the kind of stage banter that’s probably been road tested over and over again to get the desired reaction out of an audience. From song intros like, “The world is in flame, but we are united! Under 666 burning in the sky!” to his multiple calls for walls of death and circle pits, Petrozza does his best to get the crowd riled up, and based on the steady stream of crowdsurfers I saw hopping right back into the pit for the duration of their set, it does seem to work.
Rounding out the bill was Possessed, who I couldn’t help but view as the sort of underdog on the bill. Now this may seem a little odd to say as they’re a hugely influential band who have been around at least as long as their tourmates. Yet the fact that they went on at the way-too-early hour of 6:50pm and had their own cash only merch table next to the larger credit/debit only table for the headliners, made it all seem a little bit more DIY.
That said, their set was perhaps the one I was looking forward to seeing most out of all three bands on the bill, partly because their debut album Seven Churches is a key album in thrash and death metal history and partly just because I hadn’t seem them before. And they impressed with their opening set, with tracks like “The Exorcist” and “Pentagram” standing out as highlights.
While this tour may have been billed as a “klash” of titans, there really wasn’t any clashing to be seen amongst the three acts on the bill. Rather, the whole thing felt more like a reunion of old friends coming together for a good time, a feeling made even more clear by the intro music chosen by Testament as they walked on stage: The Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right to Party.”
To borrow a phrase from the great Craig Finn, yeah, I’m pretty sure we partied.
