Testament

The Formation Of Damnation

http://www.metal-temple.com/review.asp?id=2817

I heard someone saying that TESTAMENT defy the rules of Thrash Metal by composing sucky riffs. What a fucking retard! Can someone say something like that and consider himself a Thrash Metal fan? I guess not...This band is one of the fucking heaviest Thrash chariots still active out there and they need to prove nothing to people that are unaware of the word music. Really, has this guy listened to the song "Practice What You Preach"? I mean, my humble opinion is that it has one of the top 5 riffs in the history of Thrash Metal! Enough with my bitching. The pantheon of Metal welcomes its heroes back and we are here to praise them!

The band formerly known as LEGACY return after 9 years of studio silence and they are decided to reward this long waiting of ours with a kick ass new TESTAMENT album that is definitely going to break some fucking necks! After the band’s latest full-length effort "The Gathering" (1999), the TESTAMENT fanbase was starting to get a little worried. Even though I am a great fan of this album, many people thought that the US thrashers were taking a rather brutal and more modern turn. Many years passed and nobody saw any plans for a new album. Phew, and I was getting worried about how the story would go on...

The story never ends and TESTAMENT are more than willing to keep going strong with amazing albums that the least they will cause is a pure Heavy Metal earthquake that will tear everything apart (it’s all Heavy Metal anyway). "The Formation Of Damnation" was a big question for some, since many die hard fans of the 80’s offerings of the band were disappointed with the more modern approach the band had in albums like "Low" (1994), "Demonic" (1997) and "The Gathering" (1999). I believe that the band has managed to complete and almost impossible task, since the new album manages to mix every single elements that made the band what it is today.

The 80’s aggression and feeling, the melodic lines, the Thrash Metal pulse, the slightly modern approach and the brutality of the latest albums are all here, making "The Formation Of Damnation" an album that will please both old and new fans of TESTAMENT. I believe that there is no fan that wasn’t satisfied when the band welcomed Alex Skolnick back in TESTAMENT’s ranks, so everyone was hoping for something more old school. Alex is a man that has forgot about the word "disappointment" and his frenzy shredding guitar skills are still here, reminding us the reason why he is considered to be one of Thrash Metal’s top guitarists. Chuck Billy was hit by a rare disease in early 2002, but his courage and will didn’t leave him alone, making him win another fight. As you can see, Chuck is definitely not a man that would be beaten down so easily. That’s why he still keeps kicking some hairy asses with his incredible vocals! I know that I speak as a die hard TESTAMENT fan right now, but what the fuck? Have you ever heard to any singer like this man in Thrash Metal? His "clean" vocals are definitely one of the most unique in this scene (even though some times he sound too Hetfield) and his brutal ones are even more amazing!

I don’t want to keep praising each member individually, so I will just tell you some things regarding the tracks. After a really nice and "descriptive" of the album intro, the band kicks in with one of the album’s best tracks, "More Than Meets The Eye". This is the first track the band uploaded on its Myspace and it was the first one I had the chance to listen to. Chuck’s vocals are reminding us of the old days, the guitars are shredding as fuck and Bostaph shows his class with some groovy yet relentless drumming. Chuck also said that this is a song that he and Steve Souza from EXODUS wrote, so you know what to expect. Some other songs I hardly managed to love more than the others are "The Formation Of Damnation", powerful and definitely THRASH METAL song that roars the name TESTAMENT like a soldier his last battlecry! "The Persecuted Won’t Forget" is a song is a song that reminded me of the band’s "The Gathering" era with its almost Speed Metal intro and its catchy and heavy as hell main riff.

I really can’t talk about more songs, since the whole album is a Thrash Metal diamond. The sound is also one of the album’s strong points, since the man who was responsible for the mixing and the engineering is the one and only Andy Sneap. This man really managed to absorb every single drop of the band’s energy and put it in this album. TESTAMENT are the next in line that put one more brick in the wall for the revival of Thrash Metal. After the great new albums from EXODUS, DEATH ANGEL and TESTAMENT, as well as the rest of the active titans of Thrash Metal, I am just waiting for a possible new FORBIDDEN album to hit the road and scream like a maniac. Give some raw Thrash Metal to the people!