Review by Hugh Spence for MPM
It’s gigs like these that unites metalheads old and young, from the north and south of the country. We take our minibus of excited metalheads, some, like myself, have their kids with them, from the north of the country down to the big smoke of Dublin. For a lot of the kids its their first time experiencing a gig like this, in a venue that was built in 1879 and with bands spanning several decades of thrash and death metal.
The Olympia Theatre’s doors open at 5.30pm and when we arrive at the venue at 6pm there is still a massive queue for the merchandise and shirts are flying off the shelves. While a lot of the crowd are still out buying merchandise there is still a lot of people in the venue at 6.30pm when the mighty female death thrash quartet from Brazil, Nervosa, take to the stage with a warm welcome from an excited crowd which builds very quickly as the first notes from “Seed of Death” from their most recent album “Jailbreak” ring out across the venue, vocalist Prika Amaral grabs us by the balls and doesn’t let go throughout the entire set.
They stick with the Jailbreak album with the gritty “Behind The Wall” before taking a moment to talk to the crowd and dedicate the next song “Kill The Silence” to all the victims of abuse, a topic the band hold close to their hearts.
Nervosa only half a 30 minute set but make every moment count by blasting their heavy relentless fury of death thrash with 2 songs from 2021’s “Perpetual Chaos”, first up is the title track “Perpetual Chaos” and quickly followed by “Venomous”, another heavy and fast song in which drummer Gabriela Abud shows off her talent although she’s only been with the band for just over a year.
To finish off the set Nervosa go back to the 2023 album Jailbreak and play the title track “Jailbreak” and “Endless Ambition”, ending a tremendous opening set for the night and proving why they belong on this tour with these legends of metal. I even heard from one young fan that they were his band of the night.
Next up tonight is the German thrash legends and part of “The Big Teutonic 4” Destruction, playing in Ireland for the 8th time in 20 years, the first time being the Nerve Centre in Derry as headliners of the Sacrifice Festival. Schmier and crew hit the stage with the classic “Curse The God’s” and kick off the first of many mosh pits tonight.
The band barely paused before launching into the blistering speed of “Nailed to the Cross” and the modern aggression of “Scumbag Human Race.” The latter, a powerful slice of latter-day thrash, showed that Destruction is not just resting on its laurels but can still deliver new material with the same neck-snapping intensity as their classics.
The crowd erupted for a ferocious rendition of the fan favorite, “Mad Butcher,” the band’s unmistakable mascot appearing in spirit as the song’s iconic riffs and frantic energy defined the chaos in the pit. It was pure, unadulterated thrash bliss, a call-back to the genre’s formative years delivered with twenty-first-century force.
A brief breather wasn’t on the cards, as the band plunged into the anti-authoritarian anthem “No Kings No Masters.” The energy was infectious, with Schmier working the crowd.
The late-set charge was led by the appropriate battle cry of “Thrash ’til Death,” a testament to the band’s longevity and uncompromising style.
The dual-guitar attack was razor-sharp, cutting through the mix with surgical precision as the drummer punished the kit with relentless double-bass drumming.
Finally, the night culminated in the ultimate thrash declaration: “Bestial Invasion.” This was raw, untamed savagery—a perfect storm of speed, chaos, and metal history that left the audience exhausted, elated, and ringing with the sound of a truly legendary band.
Destruction oddly finish the set with a song from their most recent album “Birth of Malice”, the aptly named “Destruction”. They delivered a relentless attack of thrash for 40 minutes onto the Irish audience and leaving everyone fairly exhausted.
We are 2 bands down and 2 bands left to go, luckily the 2 bands left are more legends, Florida death metal heroes Obituary are up next to deliver an hour of hard crunchy riffs, opening appropriately with “Redneck Stomp”, an anthem of Obituary. As this is the 30th anniversary of “Cause of Death” the setlist is heavily littered with songs from the classic album, but before getting into the nitty gritty of Cause of Death we get two songs from the self titled album “Obituary”, “Sentence Day” and “A Lesson in Vengeance” and one song from their most recent album, 2023’s “Dying of Everything”, “The Wrong Time”, a modern classic proving that after 40 years together as a band they can still pump out heavy death metal that’s uncompromising to their unique style.
We now get to the part that I know from fellow Obituary enthusiasts have been looking forward to, the celebration of Cause of Death. The assault began without ceremony, launching into “Infected”, its ominous, lurching tempo immediately setting necks snapping in the burgeoning mosh pit. The band was locked-in, with the churning riffs of Trevor Peres and Kenny Andrews cutting through the mix like rusty blades. John Tardy’s voice, a signature, guttural roar, sounded as vital and monstrous as it did three decades ago, truly the voice of death metal.
The momentum continued with the barbaric double-punch of “Body Bag” and “Dying”. The former’s signature, grinding riff was a crowd-pleaser, while the latter showcased the band’s brilliant use of dynamic shifts—from the grinding slow-burn to sudden bursts of speed.
The title track, “Cause of Death”, arrived with seismic weight, its haunting introduction giving way to a devastatingly heavy and complex arrangement that proved the technical brilliance beneath the band’s groove. The surprise—and welcome—inclusion was a faithful and ferocious rendition of the Celtic Frost classic, “Circle of the Tyrants”, which the band makes their own with Tardy’s visceral delivery.
As the show reached its peak, the pairing of “Chopped in Half” and “Turned Inside Out” was sheer sonic demolition, a dizzying exhibition of tempo changes and savage riffing that whipped the pit into a frenzy. Every drop and breakdown was perfectly timed, prompting a cathartic release from the sweat-soaked audience.
Ending the Cause of Death celebration this aging mosher needs a break from the pit and so I stand back to watch the closing songs of the set, “I’m in Pain” from the 1992 album “The End Complete” before the room erupts as the unmistakable opening notes of “Slowly We Rot” began. It was a chaotic, beautiful climax to the evening. The definitive death metal anthem, with its iconic, deliberate pace and Tardy’s agonized screams, turned the venue into a surging sea of human bodies. The final, echoing feedback felt like the sound of the world ending, leaving the crowd exhilarated, bruised, and completely satisfied.
The band looked like they enjoyed every moment of the show with Trevor, Terry, Kenny and even John throwing dozens of plectums into the exhausted crowd before Donald Tardy comes out from behind his kit to do his walk of honour and throw his sticks into the crowd. The audience treats them like the heroes they are and what some call the band of the night.
I had heard talk on social media that Obituary had been playing their best performances on this tour that some die hard fans at ever seen before and they weren’t wrong. Being on a tour of this calibre it would be hard to stand out but Obituary flawlessly pull it off.
To end this exhausting and thrilling night of Thrash and Death metal is legendary bay area thrashers Testament, having played in Ireland less than a year ago opening for Kreator and Anthrax in the 3Arena but with bad sound and a short set it clearly left Irish fans begging for more as tonight’s show was completely sold out even up to the nose bleed seats high in this legendary and beautifully designed venue.
After being on the road for over 40 years and with their new album “Para Bellum” coming out at midnight tonight we are gifted with a setlist of classic fast thrash and modern hard hitting thrash with a mix of new songs dropped in around the setlist.
So I do what any good aging metalhead does and get back into the pit, this time bringing my 16 son with me who is witnessing Testament live for the first time. A huge banner is hung in front of the stage as the crowd builds in anticipation. As the intro for “D.N.R (Do Not Resuscitate)” ring through the PA and the lights dim, the banner drops in an explosion of fast furious metal with the guys on stage in a glorious state of power, sending the crowd into a frenzy and the pit into an uncontrollable circle.
Next up we have the modern pulverizer “WWIII”, the band immediately demonstrated their lethal combination of ferocity and surgical precision. Guitarists Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick were a dazzling study in contrasts: Peterson, the rhythmic architect, laying down the monolithic foundation, and Skolnick, the virtuoso, delivering leads that were both technically dazzling and imbued with deep soul.
The set quickly dipped into the classic years with the anthemic “Practice What You Preach” and the relentless “Sins of Omission”, turning the main floor into a massive, swirling vortex of limbs and flying hair. Chuck Billy, a towering presence, roared into the microphone, his voice a potent mix of guttural death growls and melodic thrash power. His rapport with the audience was immediate and commanding, coaxing every ounce of energy from the faithful.
A mid-set journey showed the depth of Testament’s catalogue with tonights setlist more or less having one, maybe two songs from every album. The powerful groove of “Native Blood” was a rallying cry, followed by the darker, more emotive depths of “Trail of Tears” and boy was I glad to have a slower song as I desperately need a break from the constant flurry of the pit, we continue with the Low album with the self titled and the gritty ’90s thrash of “Low”.
This trio showcased the band’s ability to weave complex, melodic structures into their aggression, a trait that has always set them apart. The head-banging momentum was recaptured with “More Than Meets the Eye”, a modern classic, and one of my favourite all time Testament songs, that saw the whole band locked in a tight, unstoppable groove.
A well-deserved break for the frontmen allowed for the short but heavy drum solo from Chris Dovas, even though Chris has only been in the band for a few years he fits tightly in the rest of the Testament crew.
The final act of the evening was a glorious celebration of thrash metal history. “First Strike Is Deadly” was an old-school adrenaline shot, we take a short break for Chuck to talk to the crowd and introduce the next song while telling us the new album was coming tomorrow, as if we didn’t know, Ive been looking forward to it for quite some time with the teasers being dropped on Spotify, so we all hold our beers in the air with Chuck to “cheers” the new album, so up next we get “Infanticide A.I.” and the mid-paced stomp of “Shadow People” demonstrated that Testament is not just resting on its legacy—they are still writing genre-defining tracks.
The band’s melodic heart shone through with the epic, soaring ballad “Return to Serenity”, a moment where Billy’s clean vocals showcase the range of his voice and you’d think there would be no activity in the pit during this song but Chuck had told us before the song that at other gigs on the tour they’ve had a slow moving pit so of course the Irish crowd also want to impress him with our own pit.
As we head into the last two songs of this momentous set with the thunderous “Electric Crown”, a riff machine that prepared the audience for the grand finale.
Closing out the show, the band launched into the undeniable, pit-inducing masterpiece “Into the Pit”. It was a perfect, chaotic, and exhilarating end to a flawless set. Testament has never sounded tighter, heavier, or more vital.
I have no doubt that Ireland will be included in the band’s next European tour. The great thing about this gig was how it brought metalheads together in a venue that allows kids in, in the pit I saw young, old and middle aged moshers helping each off the ground or lifting each other up to crowd surf.
A lot of younger metalheads had told me this was “the loudest gig they’ve ever been at”. I saw lots of metalheads who had travelled from all around the country meeting up with their friends that they haven’t seen since the last big gig, possibly Iron Maiden back in June, sharing a beer, a laugh and a mosh.
Thrash of the Titans continues to make its way through the UK and Europe and I cannot recommend enough seeing Obituary or Testament for the 20th time or for the first time.
Photography by Eamonn Smyth for MPM
