 | Written by Alex Stojanovic KLASH OF THE TITANS TOUR 2024 TESTAMENT / KREATOR / POSSESSED @ History Toronto, ON, Canada October 3, 2024 Presented by Inertia Entertainment & Embrace Since last year, the Klash Of The Titans Tour has done quite a few tours across the globe, with Kreator being the mainstay of the bill, and having shared that bill with bands like Testament, Sepultura, Death Angel and In Flames around North America, South America, Asia and Australia. For the latest edition, Kreator teamed up once again with Testament for an extensive run across North America, with Possessed as special guests. |
The fact that Possessed is on the bill makes it even extra special, because they're a band that you don't see all that often on tours, especially in North America. Plus, they were initially scheduled to tour across the U.S and Canada in 2020 with Pestilence, but that got cancelled due to Covid, so you could say they're making up for it with this tour. This once-in-a-lifetime bill rolled through Toronto on October 3 at History, so needless to say, us T.O thrashers were more than thrilled.
Getting into the show, Possessed kicked things off with their unholy brand of thrash-infused death metal. They did a good balance of mixing new material from Revelations Of Oblivion like "Graven", "Ritual" and "Demon", with classics from Seven Churches, Beyond The Gates and Eyes Of Horror like "Pentagram", "The Exorcist", "Death Metal", "Tribulation" and "Swing Of The Axe". You have to hand it to Jeff Becerra for being able to continue leading the band since their reformation in 2007 and still being able to enjoy life even with paralysis over the last 35 years. The reverb effect Jeff had on his microphone gave their set the feel of hearing his voice directly off the record. It goes without saying that getting to see the band that inseminated the death metal seed was a real treat. Hopefully they will not take forever to come and see their Canadian fans again.
Now, it was time for the main festivities to start. Kreator kicked off the headlining portion of the night with a straight punch to the teeth by kicking off with "Hate Uber Alles" and "Phobia". The pit was raging was the band tore their way through setlist staples like "Enemy Of God", "Hordes Of Chaos", "Satan Is Real", "Hail To The Hordes", "Phantom Antichrist", "Violent Revolution" and "Pleasure To Kill", while also throwing in some nice surprises like "666-World Divided", "Betrayer", "Strongest Of The Strong" and a nice deep cut like "Terrible Certainty". I will say that I was surprised that they left out "People Of The Lie" because they always play that one, but I will say that it was nice that they left it out this time, because even though a great song, they always play that one, so they swapped it out with the intro to "Coma Of Souls". Mille Petrozza's vocals have always sounded strong, and this night was no different. As per usual with the visuals, Kreator does not hold back, as they always bring a dynamite light show, as well as three inflatable demons, with two on either side of the stage, and one behind Ventor. This was time #6(66) for me seeing Kreator, and I always look forward to next time.
Closing off the night was none other than Testament. Personally, after this show, Testament holds the crown as the band that I've seen the most times (10 times). Celebrating the remastered re-releases of The Legacy and The New Order, their set was purely those two albums in their entireties, minus a couple of songs from The Legacy, as well as the instrumentals and the Aerosmith cover from The New Order. For me, this was a revisiting of the set they did back in 2015 when I saw them on the Dark Roots Of Thrash II Tour with Exodus where they once again played both albums in their entireties. The pit kicked off into high gear with the opening one-two punch of "Eerie Inhabitants" and "The New Order". As opposed to having the setlist structured after the running order of the albums, the order was completely out of order, which was nice because then it would be too obvious as to what song was coming next if they played them chronologically. It's also quite crazy to believe that it has been six years since the band was last here in Toronto since 2018 on the final Slayer tour.
Since the last North American tour, the biggest change in the band was another drummer change, which is honestly no surprise for Testament. After Dave Lombardo unfortunately couldn't commit to Testament's consistent touring schedule due to his own schedule piling up, the band recruited some young blood with Chris Dovas from Seven Spires, who is old enough to be any of the band members' son. However, he proved to be a more-than-worthy successor to both Lombardo and Gene Hoglan. That is definitely a daunting task, to be following two of the most highly influential drummers in metal, but he stepped up and took position of what he needed to do, and he is doing it masterfully. He even had the opportunity to showcase his mastery with a drum solo halfway through the set.
With Testament being my favourite band ever, it was incredibly exciting to hear many more deep cuts from those first two albums like "Apocalyptic City", "Raging Waters", "The Haunting", "First Strike Is Deadly", "A Day Of Reckoning" and "Do Or Die", along with the other setlist staples like "Trial By Fire", "The Preacher", "Alone In The Dark", "Disciples Of The Watch", and of course the two signature anthems "Over The Wall" and "Into The Pit". History is also known for having amazing acoustics for sound, but Testament's sound was so pristine and crushing, it felt like I was listening to a live version of First Strike Still Deadly. Whoever did sound for Testament that night deserves a raise. As I mentioned in my last review of Testament, the band is still on top of their game. At 62 years old, Chuck Billy can still shake the ground with his unmistakable death growl. The guitar firepower of Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick is still firing on all cylinders, and Steve DiGiorgio hasn't lost a step on his sophisticated bass skills. See the Klash Of The Titans Tour with Testament, Kreator and Possessed when it hits your city, because if you don't, you will be regretting it for the rest of your life.
Getting into the show, Possessed kicked things off with their unholy brand of thrash-infused death metal. They did a good balance of mixing new material from Revelations Of Oblivion like "Graven", "Ritual" and "Demon", with classics from Seven Churches, Beyond The Gates and Eyes Of Horror like "Pentagram", "The Exorcist", "Death Metal", "Tribulation" and "Swing Of The Axe". You have to hand it to Jeff Becerra for being able to continue leading the band since their reformation in 2007 and still being able to enjoy life even with paralysis over the last 35 years. The reverb effect Jeff had on his microphone gave their set the feel of hearing his voice directly off the record. It goes without saying that getting to see the band that inseminated the death metal seed was a real treat. Hopefully they will not take forever to come and see their Canadian fans again.
Now, it was time for the main festivities to start. Kreator kicked off the headlining portion of the night with a straight punch to the teeth by kicking off with "Hate Uber Alles" and "Phobia". The pit was raging was the band tore their way through setlist staples like "Enemy Of God", "Hordes Of Chaos", "Satan Is Real", "Hail To The Hordes", "Phantom Antichrist", "Violent Revolution" and "Pleasure To Kill", while also throwing in some nice surprises like "666-World Divided", "Betrayer", "Strongest Of The Strong" and a nice deep cut like "Terrible Certainty". I will say that I was surprised that they left out "People Of The Lie" because they always play that one, but I will say that it was nice that they left it out this time, because even though a great song, they always play that one, so they swapped it out with the intro to "Coma Of Souls". Mille Petrozza's vocals have always sounded strong, and this night was no different. As per usual with the visuals, Kreator does not hold back, as they always bring a dynamite light show, as well as three inflatable demons, with two on either side of the stage, and one behind Ventor. This was time #6(66) for me seeing Kreator, and I always look forward to next time.
Closing off the night was none other than Testament. Personally, after this show, Testament holds the crown as the band that I've seen the most times (10 times). Celebrating the remastered re-releases of The Legacy and The New Order, their set was purely those two albums in their entireties, minus a couple of songs from The Legacy, as well as the instrumentals and the Aerosmith cover from The New Order. For me, this was a revisiting of the set they did back in 2015 when I saw them on the Dark Roots Of Thrash II Tour with Exodus where they once again played both albums in their entireties. The pit kicked off into high gear with the opening one-two punch of "Eerie Inhabitants" and "The New Order". As opposed to having the setlist structured after the running order of the albums, the order was completely out of order, which was nice because then it would be too obvious as to what song was coming next if they played them chronologically. It's also quite crazy to believe that it has been six years since the band was last here in Toronto since 2018 on the final Slayer tour.
Since the last North American tour, the biggest change in the band was another drummer change, which is honestly no surprise for Testament. After Dave Lombardo unfortunately couldn't commit to Testament's consistent touring schedule due to his own schedule piling up, the band recruited some young blood with Chris Dovas from Seven Spires, who is old enough to be any of the band members' son. However, he proved to be a more-than-worthy successor to both Lombardo and Gene Hoglan. That is definitely a daunting task, to be following two of the most highly influential drummers in metal, but he stepped up and took position of what he needed to do, and he is doing it masterfully. He even had the opportunity to showcase his mastery with a drum solo halfway through the set.
With Testament being my favourite band ever, it was incredibly exciting to hear many more deep cuts from those first two albums like "Apocalyptic City", "Raging Waters", "The Haunting", "First Strike Is Deadly", "A Day Of Reckoning" and "Do Or Die", along with the other setlist staples like "Trial By Fire", "The Preacher", "Alone In The Dark", "Disciples Of The Watch", and of course the two signature anthems "Over The Wall" and "Into The Pit". History is also known for having amazing acoustics for sound, but Testament's sound was so pristine and crushing, it felt like I was listening to a live version of First Strike Still Deadly. Whoever did sound for Testament that night deserves a raise. As I mentioned in my last review of Testament, the band is still on top of their game. At 62 years old, Chuck Billy can still shake the ground with his unmistakable death growl. The guitar firepower of Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick is still firing on all cylinders, and Steve DiGiorgio hasn't lost a step on his sophisticated bass skills. See the Klash Of The Titans Tour with Testament, Kreator and Possessed when it hits your city, because if you don't, you will be regretting it for the rest of your life.
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