Written by:	Abattoir
Published:	July 14, 2023
Event:	Testament: Titans Of Creation European Summer Tour 2023
Location:	Kino Siska, Ljubljana, Slovenia

When it was announced at the beginning of this year, I signed up for this veteran package early on and bought the ticket soon after. The possibility to see Exodus live after so many years swayed this decision. Of course it’s always cool to see Testament with their classic line-up: Peterson, Skolnick, and Chuck Billy at the forefront. And to complete this veteran, 120-year-old bill, Canadian stalwarts Voivod joined as well.

However, things had shifted drastically in just a few weeks before this tour even started. First, Testament confirmed that Dave Lombardo will be unable to join the band for live performances this year due to his busy schedule with other music projects. Chris Dovas of Seven Spires has replaced him until further notice. The second unpleasant piece of information about this tour was the biggest shock: Exodus were suddenly pulled out of this trek just one week prior to the beginning, due to Gary Holt's brother’s health problems following a traffic accident. Hopefully it will end well. Thirdly, just two days prior to the official start of the tour, Testament’s Alex Skolnick shared a statement that he would be unable to attend the first part of the tour due to his mother’s health issues. Phil Demmel (Vio-lence, ex-Machine Head) stepped in on short notice. He basically flew over to Europe as soon as possible, landing on the same day that he performed the first show. Quite turbulent times. Nonetheless, I tried not to be too bothered by all of these unexpected changes even though I was really excited for Exodus.


VOIVOD

So to the concert itself. One of Canada’s most recognizable and longest-running metal institutions, Voivod had the honor of opening this sold-out event with their thrashy prog metal approach. This wasn't my first encounter with the band. I saw them around 8 years ago in Vienna when they were part of a massive touring lineup that consisted of Napalm Death, Obituary, and Carcass. After 40 years in the business, half of the band still consists of original members – drummer Michel "Away" Langevin and vocalist Denis "Snake" Bélanger – who are pushing forward the Canadian machine steadily, year by year. Presenting an hour-long set, which probably isn’t the easiest thing to put together given their expansive discography, they really tried to touch as many albums as they could aside from the three songs off their latest record, Synchro Anarchy. The strong emphasis was on music from the band’s early career, featuring songs from almost all of the '80s albums. I might not be overwhelmed when listening to their music, but being continuously "alive" for four decades and still pounding hard all around the world is something I strongly appreciate from bands like Voivod.

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TESTAMENT

With the crowd highly pumped up and a partly modified lineup, Testament followed as headliners of this show. Paving their path since the early/mid-80s, the Bay Area veterans have been quite a consistent thrash metal band in regard to studio albums releasing and touring around the world. In terms of their prepared set, half of it consisted of material from the first three records, evading the '90s era with the exception of two songs from The Gathering, and the other half included material from their last decade (2008-2020). It was quite diverse, since this tour was not about promoting new music; as reported in a recent interview with the band’s mastermind, Eric Peterson, the new full-length album will most likely be released in 2024.

Since I saw them live for the first time 14 years ago, I have managed to attend a couple of their shows before this one. Testament are one of those experienced bands that are very enjoyable and still quite energetic live and it suits just fine to see them periodically every 3-4 years. The driving forces and main characters, frontman Chuck Billy and lead guitarist Eric Peterson, are still able to perform with high octane, giving the band's overall appearance an additional boost. Can’t say I did not miss the presence of (guitarist) Alex Skolnick, or Dave Lombardo on drums for that matter, but still… the classic 90-minute-long performance was professionally executed as would be expected for a band of such a reputation and ultimately offered a string of songs that achieved my standards.