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Review: Testament/Obituary/Destruction/ Nervosa, Bristol Beacon – ‘If it aint broke…’
After the prospect of last year’s Cannibal Corpse Show reportedly terrified the Beacon folks but passed off peaceably enough (with the only damage done to audience members’ brain cells), they now seem a lot more relaxed about welcoming an extreme metal blowout to their expensive venue.
First up on tonight’s Thrash of the Titans bill are Brazil’s all-female band Nervosa, who suffer from being a relatively unknown late addition and also from having a measly half-our slot beginning at 6:30pm.
They certainly make the most of it, setting out their thrash/death metal stall effectively and winning over the early birds to such an extent that they could probably play another 30 minutes without complaint.
They’ve got a sense of melody that’s relatively rare in the genre, without sacrificing any of the ferocity expected of them, with the likes of the title track from their recent Jailbreak album (not to be confused with the title track of Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak album) proving particularly effective.
German veterans Destruction have been thrashing since 1982, which makes your correspondent feel rather guilty about never having seen them before. But they’ve tended to stick to continental Europe and the USA, where the press is less hostile, for which one can hardly blame them.
It’s difficult to avoid national clichés of regimented brutal efficiency when describing the four-piece, but they seen to play up to these with choreographed guitar swinging and headbanging.
While one can see why they’ve never succeeded in breaking out of thrash’s second division, it’s interesting how, lyrically at least, they appear to be returning to their ‘80s punk roots with songs like Scumbag Human Race and No Kings – No Masters from new album Birth of Malice. But then maybe the political climate of the times calls out for such material.
is needed now More than ever
As usual, Pat Travers’ 1980 classic Snortin’ Whiskey announces the arrival of Florida’s Obituary, who succeed in getting the best – and loudest – sound of the evening, with an audience response to match.
Very much of the “If it ain’t broke . . .” school of rock, these death metal veterans have succeeded in finding their groove and sticking to it.
Their set is dominated by 1990’s Cause of Death album, whose giant eyeball cover art forms the backdrop to much of the gore-inflected show.
This includes such crowd pleasers as Chopped in Half and Turned Inside Out, with John Tardy’s roar set to stun from beneath his waist-length curtain of hair.
Frequent breaks between songs hint at technical difficulties behind the scenes, but these aren’t apparent out here in punterland, where the bloke dressed as Elmo (you get all sorts at metal shows) is particularly excited, mounting multiple stage invasions.
He must be seriously sweaty inside that outfit.
Obituary’s cover of Celtic Frost’s Circle of the Tyrants is played so often that they’ve practically made it their own. But are they really going to leave us without doing the title track from 1989’s Slowly We Rot?
Of course they aren’t, and everyone goes suitably apeshit before wondering how Testament are going to follow that.
The answer is they give it some Iron Maiden with a multi-level stage set with an ossuary base and a giant inflatable horned skeleton.
For those of us old enough to remember it, this brings back memories of Maiden’s 1983 show at this very venue in its former incarnation as the Colston Hall.
The sound is rather muddy, which robs the guitar interplay of much of its subtlety.
That’s a pity given that Testament are one of the most musically accomplished of all thrash metal bands, with one of the best players in the form of Alex Skolnick who’s enjoyed a parallel career as a jazz musician.
With new album Para Bellum not out yet, they elect to play only a couple of tracks from it, one of which, Infanticide A.I., goes some way towards justifying frontman Chuck Billy’s claim that it’s their best collection to date.
He also points out that at this early stage in the tour the setlist is still a work in progress. If one were to venture a criticism it would be that there are currently too many slower songs for a Thrash of the Titans tour.
But there are plenty of absolute thrash crackers too, notably Practice What You Preach and Mote Than Meet the Eye.
Chuck also celebrates his Native American heritage in Native Blood, which was absent from the set for far too long.
Like Obituary, they return to the 1980s for their final song: a storming Into the Pit from The New Order. Overall result: a points victory for Obituary, while Nervosa go straight to the top of the ‘must see’ list next time they tour.
All images: Mike Evans.
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