People surrounding me (both in meatspace and cyberspace) absolutely lost their shit over this album, and I can't count how many times I was asked if I had 'heard the new Testament' record. And I HAD heard a track or two, and was a little confused over the hype, not that I disliked the material, but from the way people were speaking about it I thought this was the second coming of The Legacy or The New Order. Granted, I am an odd duck with regards to this band's catalogue. The Ritual is my favorite, with its washed out, heavy metal leanings, not at all typical of their output, and appreciated by few; but I do also really love that first run of three albums, as well as others (Formation of Damnation) which hearken back to that very sound. So I allowed myself to get excited...
And I probably shouldn't have. This is a Testament album, through and through, with a few stylistic embellishments that are added to try and round it out, namely the more black metal and death metal elements. It's not their first rodeo with the latter, records like Low and Demonic walked that line, and often quite well, but the black metal here in "For the Love of Pain", obviously included as some sort of paean to Eric Peterson's run in Dragonlord, feels fresh. It's well performed, with incredibly drumming from Chris Dovas as well as Chuck Billy adapting his unmistakable voice with ease. But I don't think it actually adds anything I was really expecting to hear, even with Steve DiGiorgio laying in some awesome swerving bass lines to give it a more unique feel. Para Bellum is far, far better when it's sticking to the thrash that put them on the map, that's where I can really appreciate Chuck's more melodic chorus parts, and there are a bunch of tracks I enjoyed like "Witch Hunt", "Shadow People", and the awesome titular closer which is probably my favorite of the bunch with the technical riffing from Eric and Alex.
The ballad, "Meant to Be", clearly a callback to some of my fave material from The Ritual, doesn't quite land with me, but overall I think Para Bellum is a better listen than Titans of Creation. That album was rock solid, doing what Testament do, but it didn't impact me beyond the surface level. I think all the musicians in Testament are flexing a lot more throughout this record, and that's where the most curious details lie, because it rewards you for a number of listens with something you might not have noticed. I also think there's an EP worth of top shelf songwriting present, but even then none of the chorus parts or riffs necessarily stand out against their classics. Production and performances are exceptional, and so this is worth picking up for that alone, but it never amounted to AOTY material for me, despites its numerous strengths and the utter perseverance of this band to sound as energetic as it still does. That aspect of Para Bellum is humbling, for sure, and maybe the rest of this will grow on me more.
Verdict: Win [7.75/10]
Showing posts with label testament. Show all posts
Showing posts with label testament. Show all posts
Sunday, March 29, 2026
Testament - Para Bellum (2025)
Friday, May 1, 2020
Testament - Titans of Creation (2020)
Musically, this is Testament-by-numbers to the extent that I think I've run through the entire album a half dozen times with hardly any of its riffing progressions ever really standing forth from the rest, or from the band's somewhat substantial catalog. This is certainly channeling the 'pure' thrash metal the band pioneered through it's first four albums, with chug heavy rhythm guitars moving at a bombastic middle pace as a seat for Chuck Billy's domineering vocals and the Skolnick/Peterson leads. A near comparison would be The Gathering or The Formation of Damnation, the latter of which I quite enjoyed, examples of when the band righted its ship from the death metal distractions inherent on efforts like Demonic or, to a lesser extent, Low. But for some reason this selection of cuts isn't quite breaking the skin for me as they are for others. I was no huge fan of its predecessor, The Brotherhood of the Snake, but I think one of the issues here is that the album actually becomes its most interesting when the band remembers the rhythm section it's equipped with, and takes on a more progressive and curious composition, like the opening to "City of Angels" where DiGiorgio's thicker bass lines play a more prominent roll than they do under the bulk of the rhythm guitars on most of the thrashers.
There are certainly a few positives here. The production is chunky but beautifully balances out the instruments and vocals, with a clear drum mix, a perfect heft to the bass guitar, and plenty of room for the little effects they put on the bass/guitars or occasionally on the vocals. Billy is in fine form in general, his voice carrying the perfect level of atmosphere whether he's barking out his Hetfield-like harsher lines or the hazier, melodic intonation he'll switch into. The leads are pretty well written if not highly memorable. With a lineup of musicians like this, you could very easily fly off the handle with all kinds of excess wank and showmanship, but to their credit, the Skolnick/DiGiorgio/Hoglan trio remains as mercenary and true to the Testament spirit as they've always been. Granted, a little more experimentation here, with or without the need for flashy instrumentation, might have created a more interesting overall, but this one seems to celebrate its own generic sense of momentum, with a lot of stock rhythm guitar parts that seem like they're little more than rearranged from prior albums. Even tunes like "Symptoms" with its cool melodic intro riff seem to labor under some very predictable heavier guitar patterns, like the band is constantly engineering its riffs for full moshability, and you can't fault them for keeping up with the times.
I think for fans seeking out the 'pure' Testament thrash aesthetics in 2020 this one is serviceable, like a Formation of Damnation seasoned by a dozen years of modernization. It sounded quite good blasting out of my car windows on some of my spins of the CD, but I certainly wouldn't mind if the band had the confident to spread its creative wings just a little further and perhaps craft a Titans of Evolution that offers a bit more nuance than just the expected professional musicianship and strong vocal delivery. A standardized riff-set, no real surprises other than a few death grunts and one shift into near-black metal territory during "Curse of Osiris". Decent, but they can do better.
Verdict: Win [7/10]
http://www.testamentlegions.com/site/
Monday, November 7, 2016
Testament - Brotherhood of the Snake (2016)
Production here is loud, vivid, pounding, and polished, and the songwriting itself is certainly sprung from the DNA of past records like The New Order, Practice What You Preach and their last disc Dark Roots of Earth, but there's just too little of interest in how the riffing sequences manifest themselves other than as mediocre anchors for Chuck's performance, which is, admittedly one of the few aspects of the album I'd consider a highlight. It's one thing to dabble in familiarity, a technique that worked well for me with 2008's The Formation of Damnation, but throughout most of the track list here you are treated to a few callbacks to their great 80s works that do nothing to elevate or extend their legacy (sorry, ha) to anything even rivaling what has come before. Breakneck headbanging, brickwork Gene Hoglan drumming and overall high proficiency paychecks earned all around the lineup do nothing to alleviate the disappointment that there is nothing here I'm really going to keep repeating in my brain for any length of time beyond when I'm actually hearing it through a speaker.
Certain tunes like "The Pale King" and "Stronghold" have rhythm guitars in there which are just about cut and from past songs and then pasted into compositions that are far less interesting beyond just the sheer level of energy the band is willing to commit to them. And the aggression level is not in question here. If you're a new thrash fan picking up your first few CDs, with little info or experience with this Bay Area quintet's discography, you might be bowled over that these veterans still hit the boards this hard. But it's not the first time I've felt so underwhelmed...there was the album Demonic which had a brutal, groovy title track and then little else to offer it became so mundane, or The Gathering, which had a fairly strong reaction, but ultimately felt to me like they were doing the rounds, only more heavy for the death metal audience contemporary to its release. This one suffers a lot of the same symptoms, and while they were certainly present on Dark Roots of Earth, that album benefited from a few fresher ideas and more impressive foundations for the songs.
This is not all a bust, and the latter half of the album has tracks like "Neptune's Spear" which are still engaging and have some picking patterns we haven't heard within the Peterson/Skolnick realm, but for every spark like that, you get a dull counterweight like the insipid opening of "Centuries of Suffering" which has one of the most boring note progressions I've heard in their career. Those are the moments where Hoglan's powering beats and fills, and Chuck's hoarse growls carry everything. The last four tracks are clearly superior to everything that came before them, but even then there is just not enough charisma there to really save it. The leads, while solid, don't really offer any sort of emotional elevation to the pieces as they should. Superficially, Brotherhood of the Snake has the volume, forcefulness and finesse to satisfy some army of Jango Fett-like assembly line thrash fanatics, and maybe some of the old school crowd will just be thrilled that they can dish out such a beating so deep into their years, but I was left wanting less of a checklist of technical qualities, and more of an affirmation of why Testament helped vanguard that second tier of 80s thrash so hard.
Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (the thrashing and bashing and blistering burns)
http://www.testamentlegions.com/site/
Friday, September 7, 2012
Testament - The Ritual (1992)
But I was wrong, and I've spent the past 20 years repenting just HOW wrong, because over time, I've not only grown to love this beast, but it's become my absolute favorite of their full-lengths to date. An opinion, that, to the thrash purist, must be like attempting to practice witchcraft at a Puritan prayer club; but I don't spend hours listening and typing these reviews out to lie, people. Even if you've never trusted my word on anything else, or burn wicker statues of me on your front lawn, I'd implore detractors of this record to set the proper mood, and give The Ritual another chance, because it's one of the truly underrated works of those parched early 90s, where quality metal was a rarity more than a commodity. Yeah, it existed if you knew where to find it, but the likelihood of picking up even a major band's new record and coming out satisfied were pretty slim. It's important to note that, unlike Metallica, who had a decade of huge sales within the diminished creative returns of their 'hard rock' years, this would prove a one-off for Testament, the last of the classic lineup's collaborations, before initiating the train depot arrival/departure of temporary members and pursuing a more modern, aggressive direction through Low and the ill-met Demonic. So if you seek this more atmospheric, 'heavy metal' incarnation of Testament, there is but one place to turn...
Thankfully, that place is still open and ready for your business. This album never grows old, a result of the simple and focused songwriting, immortal chorus melodies and raucous, airy guitar tone. Although one could still discern a 'thrash' element to the riffing, thanks to the heavy use of palm mutes, The Ritual has more in line with a mainstream heavy metal sound. Like The Black Album, or perhaps doom royalty Trouble's Manic Frustration (another unsung, excellent record from this same year). Essentially, they decided to peel back the years and return to the roots of what made them interested in metal, and thus the compositions feel just as Deep Purple as they do Master of Puppets. Don't get me wrong, the boxcar tone of the guitars is heavy as balls, and there is plenty to bang your head or fists at, but The Ritual is so suffused with vocal echoes, reverb and beautiful, blues-born leads and melodies that it's built more for a road trip than a mosh pit. Seriously, whether you're behind the helm of an 18-wheeler of your mother's station wagon, this thing is the perfect accompaniment to a long highway or back-road trek, capable of making the journey just as emotionally resonant as the destination. One of the reasons I've been able to continually connect to it and enjoy it for such a long time.
This is not so much an album of nuance or innovation, but one of an 'alternate history'. Like a novel by Harry Turtledove, it answers its 'what if' scenario in style. Just the production on The Ritual alone breeds subtleties that fasten themselves to the ear (and heart) with each exposure, and what initially was a mild reception to just a handful of tracks has blossomed into a love of nearly every moment of the record. The one exception might be the closer "Troubled Dreams", which I often forget is even there, but it still fits the aesthetics of this sound rather well, its riffing structures a nod to the band's past. Even the power ballads on this crush their wimpier predecessors like "The Ballad" or "The Legacy"; the sultry, evocative mix and the superior vocals seem so much more heartfelt. Testament wrote those tracks to get on the radio, or to get laid, but they wrote these for dudes deep in their cups at the local bar, wondering where the next paycheck will come from. In particular, "Return to Serenity" is memorable, with its glossed cleans, distant hovering micro-leads and then a build-up with reminds me of the drama present in Megadeth's "In My Darkest Hour", with Billy clearly meting out a stronger performance than their earlier lighter-swaying fare.
The heart of this record, though, isn't its most sober moments, but the forceful, ass-kicking of the riffs native to songs like "Electric Crown", "Agony" and "The Sermon" which are impossible for me not to headbang to, or the slower, pulverizing grooves that comprise "So Many Lies" or "As the Seasons Grey". Though the song structures are pretty simplistic, with only a few central guitar progressions slathered in great leads and vocals, there isn't a single riff throughout that feels unnecessary or out of place. Greg Christian's bass tone is not so prevalent as Practice What You Preach, but more a flood of depth that anchors the muscular rhythm guitar. Louie Clemente's drums are pure hard rock, slight in technicality but long on power. As usual, the leads are very well prepared by Skolnick, peaking through the beautiful escalation of "As the Seasons Grey", but suitably shredding and acrobatic even on the intro "Signs of Chaos" or the swaggering rise and fall of "So Many Lies". At times, I felt a little Criss Oliva (Savatage) tone and technique in a handful of the rhythm guitar, never a bad thing, though Testament is far burlier.
Lyrically, this is probably the most personal of the Californians' works, and they deal with a lot of topics like loss, betrayal, and personal freedom. Again, we're not dealing with much complexity in their craft, but thanks to Chuck's infallible, Hetfield-esque inflection, almost every line on the album drives home its point, and where he erupts into the chorus of something like "Agony" I get chills down my spine, even in lieu of the predictable chord pattern below. It's the blues man. Iron clad blues, beating you within an inch of your life while granting you the wisdom to survive. Paired with the sheer gravity and pummeling force of the music, the message is unstoppable, and it's no wonder this album has grown so far in my estimation through persistent listening. I realize this isn't the shit-kicking nuclear thrash people want from Testament; the increased accessibility, diminished speed and riff mechanics exorcise it from that genre almost entirely. It's only perfect for about 45-48 minutes out the 55, but nevertheless, The Ritual is heartfelt, brave and brawny music which never loses its luster, and when did that stop being important? A rousing success of an 'experiment', and if I'm the only guy who loves this until he's old and grey, than I'll play the odd man out proudly.
Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (things I must die for)
http://www.testamentlegions.com/site/
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Testament - Souls of Black (1990)
Aesthetically, it's quite similar to Practice What You Preach, only the mix seems shoddier. The bass is less prominent, the guitars dingier, and there seems to be more of a reverb saturation. I even detect a little hiss to the CD, but again, I've hardly tracked down a remaster for it or compared it to other digital formats. At any rate, compared to records like Rust in Peace, By Inheritance or Seasons in the Abyss, it seems as if it was underdeveloped just to get it out to stores on time and maintain that one album/year cycle that wasn't always the best blueprint for success (as Metallica has proven time and time again). The only exceptions are the vocals of Chuck Billy, which are just as consistent and poignant as any of the previous records, and Alex Skolnick, whose leads seem to carve out quality from whatever bedrock they're settled into. There are also a bevy of surgical, semi-tech thrash riffs even in a few of the weaker cuts that would have been so much more excellent with a better mix of instruments. I also dug the cover art here, another proxy for the band members, though the title font is hammy as hell; combined with the heart, it makes me feel like I'm on a Valentine's date at some diner, being served by Dementors from the Harry Potter universe.
As for the song selection, it's set up quite similarly to Practice, with in my estimation the best material all wedged up front in the track list, and then a simmering down and compromise for the later numbers. After the Mediterranean mystique of the acoustic intro "Beginning of the End", "Face in the Sky" crashes in with some decent grooves playful spikes of lead guitar, and other standouts include "Love to Hate", "Falling Fast", "Absence of Light", and "Malpractice". I go back and forth on the title track, a woozy groover with a clear hard rock influence permeated by harsher, thrashing guitars, but it's not out of place here, and also might have fit in flush with the third album. The only real stinker here is "The Legacy", another shitty power ballad track that you can bet your ass was included because of "The Ballad"'s market penetration, but comes out even wimpier than the last. The other late cuts like "One Man's Fate" and "Seven Days of May" also fall short of the quality I'd expected, and as far as I'm concerned the last 15 minutes of the whole record should just have been left off (an EP would have sufficed, and given the band some breathing room).
In the end, for all its flaws, Souls of Black still has that ability to evoke some nostalgia and transport me back to a time and place of significance; it's not as if the band just suddenly sucked, and in fact my favorite material was still to follow. I recall seeing the band play some of this material on the Painkiller tour with Judas Priest and Megadeth, and I certainly played the heck out of my tape for a few weeks, but its charms faded rather quickly, and I would find myself steering back to The Legacy or The New Order. A good album, just not a great one; worth buying if you love the first three, but not a strong place to start if you're a virgin to their sound. I'd love to hear most of it fully remixed or remastered, perhaps even recorded again with more power to the guitars, but as it stands, I don't set aside much time for this these years.
Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (they got control)
http://www.testamentlegions.com/site/
Testament - Practice When You Preach (1989)
When it finally landed, a few days before my birthday in 1989, I was elated, and couldn't wait to head over to the mall and pick up a copy. I was not disappointed. In fact, when I think back on the Practice What You Preach, it really does feel like an album that deserved a large share of its hype before and after release. No, it's not a perfect thrash record, and no, it's not superior to either of the full-lengths predating it, but this was a damn fine effort which further magnified the scope and aim of Testament's artillery, while at the same time finally managing to cross the threshold into a more timeless production standard. Once again the band worked alongside Alex Perialas, but everything here, through whatever technical advisement/advancement seems far better balanced, in particular the guitar tone, which is given a crisper embellishment that no longer feels stifled or over-processed. This album has more or less something for everyone, whether that's 'the ladies' (more on this later), the guitar diehards who enjoyed the semi-surgical precision and guitar gallantry of The New Order, or the mosh police who need oh so much of that sweet home chuggin' to cope with reality.
There are some admitted differences here from the sophomore album, in that there is less of an overwhelming use of atmosphere and melody to stage the more aggressive rhythm guitars. Many of these cuts thrived on their nature as mid-paced, straight thrashing numbers which were well suited to an audience inundated with the likes of Anthrax and Exodus. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of musicianship here, and no shortage of ideas which manifest in a very clean, clinical use of biting harmonies and innovation, but Skolnick and Peterson spend much of the playtime in cruise mode, allowing Chuck Billy's most melodic vocals yet to carry the thunder. Another surprising turn is Greg Christian's bass, which is really brought out to the fore with a popping, almost comical tone that feels like a train of drunken, fat bumblebees heading home from the honey bar after last call. You'll hear this everywhere, both in places where he's alone (the "Perilous Nation" intro) or clinging to the rhythm guitars for dear life ("Practice What You Preach"). This actually reminded me of how Anthrax handled the low end on their 1988-1990 records, but I liked it better here.
For the first 35 minutes of this album, the first seven songs, I was completely on board with the writing, and it seemed like there was no end to the riffing goodness, mighty chorus progressions all feeling distinct from one another without any loss to consistency. I love nearly every moment, from the lead sequences, to Billy's harsh aural invective, to the great setups like the clean picked intro to "Sins of Omission" or the thundering inauguration to "Envy Life", above which Billy gives us an early death growl (a style he'd use more often in the 90s). This all grinds to a halt with "The Ballad", Testament's first attempt at a "Fade to Black". Billy seems a little acidic with his singing range, and aside from culling the wimpier hard rock audience who might have found The Legacy or The New Order too impenetrable, I really don't see any need for this. Until it gets heavier, the song is pretty much shit; so naturally it wound up being pretty popular; but I could have lived without it. The "Confusion Fusion" instrumental finale is a nice bit of tech-thrash, and "Nightmare (Coming Back to You)" is an appreciable stormer, but really the flow of the album is gimped by the time they arrive.
Though a few of the ensuing Testament records might have charted higher (I won't count Formation of Damnation or Dark Roots of Earth since the sales standards are far different these days than they were in the 80s when most people still bought music), Practice What You Preach always felt like their best chance at a 'breakthrough', with solid video rotation for both "The Ballad" and the title cut. Naturally, the success of this brought on some derision and divisiveness from the fans, but apart from about 2 minutes of that one song, this is hardly the 'sellout' some might paint it as. Still, it didn't do well enough that the band could force its way up to that next level of infamy reserved for Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, and Slayer. It's more accessible than The New Order, with lyrics focused more on environmental awareness and personal freedom, but I did miss some of that pervasive, overarching menace prevalent on the older albums. In retrospect, I'd rank it 4th in terms of quality across their entire backlog. I still listen to it fairly often, and its easily one of their most iconic releases, with the five members of the band represented as statues in a desert storm (precognition?).
Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (pay the burnt bridge toll)
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Testament - The New Order (1988)
Albeit mild, there is in fact some progression to The New Order. For one, the songs seem a little 'friendlier' than the debut. I'm not saying they were flat-out accessible and likely to gain the band much airplay, but the slightly cleaner mix to the rhythm guitars was evident, and the choruses were simply catchier in terms of their melodic content. Testament had embraced, rather than backed away from the fact that it had a new guitar hero in its ranks, and thus Skolnick's leads are more pronounced and fluid than on The Legacy, with a more consistent use of arpeggios and other melodies that showcased their confidence in his ability. Otherwise, I'm not sure they would have gotten the green light for not one, but two fully instrumental pieces, the spectral and atmospheric "Hypnosis" interlude and the gentler, neoclassical exercises of the 4 minute finale "Musical Death (A Dirge)". The inclusion of the Aerosmith cover ("Nobody's Fault") also made it seem as if the band were throwing a bone to the less aggressive-minded audience; it's a hard and fun take on the original with a nice bite to the guitars, but you could envision that it might make the MTV request shows more than, say, "Eerie Inhabitants". And they did, in fact, shoot a rather lame video for it with the band fucking around in between shots of them performing.
But the gist of the album is pure, unbridled excellence, with a number of songs just as memorable as anything off The Legacy. "Into the Pit" and "Disciples of the Watch" have long been set staples for good reason, as they're both blood stirring pieces, the former succeeded by its title alone to whip any mosh pit into a frenzy, and the latter possessive of one of their better singalong chorus progressions. A lot of the songs ("Eerie Inhabitants", "Disciples of the Watch", "Trial by Fire", etc) build great atmospheres through clean intros and supernatural leads before exploding into their surges of Metallica-fueled rage. The compositions continue to exude that same sense of foreboding as one found on the debut, even if the rhythm guitars are not quite so crushing. Like the cover warns, The New Order leaves me with the impression that I'm living in a fucked world with little hope for salvation, choked out by corruption, pollution, zealotry, globalization, and dogmatic obsession, and these subjects and more are tackled directly through the lyrics.
While it doesn't hit the same polished stride as its own successor, Practice What You Preach, The New Order certainly seems tidier than the first album. The rhythm guitars possess a similar, processed punch while chugging, but they're less muddled. The leads gleam far more, and the clean guitars are also better integrated, which is necessary, since there are more of them. In addition to Skolnick stepping up his game, you also get a larger amount of bass alongside the rhythm tracks, so Greg Christian stands out more. The same goes for Clemente, whose kick drum seems more distinct thanks to the more melodic nature of the writing. Chuck Billy does admittedly sound less raucous and frenzied than on the debut, but he compensates with a stronger range and a lot of tight and memorable lines. Rather than just Xerox riffs from the debut, they also seem to attempt a wider range of variation as they use to set up "The Preacher" or the exotic, far Eastern foundation to the melodies of opener "Eerie Inhabitants".
Though I still listen to The New Order frequently enough, there are a few minor flaws in that the production sounds dated so many years later (like The Legacy); the digitized, effect heavy sound they originally aimed for felt futuristic for its day, but not any more. Not one of Alex Perialas' best, though it was cool to see Raven's Rob 'Wacko' had a hand in this. Also, with the exception of the churning intro riff, I'm not a huge fan of the track "A Day of Reckoning", as the verse riffing seems redundant with ideas they had in other tunes. However, these are about the only limitations to my enjoyment of what is otherwise one of the band's best works. With the exception of the Aerosmith cover, the vision here is incredibly unified, in both vocal and instrumental tunes, and The New Order helped substantiate these Oakland raiders into a potential usurper for the frontrunners in the field. That might not have completely panned out for them in the end, but the fact is that Testament remains after all these years, with a deep well of inspiring material for fans to draw upon, and this sophomore was a willing, quality contributor to that legacy.
Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (shadows cast loud and clear)
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Testament - The Legacy (1987)
...and while my feelings for this debut might not be so strong as for Taking Over or Hall of the Mountain King, there is no doubt that this thing has more heart than Mola Ram's pantry, and more fire than an oil drum in some Oakland ghetto back alley on a cool winter night. Testament's modus operandi was admittedly a wilder response to Metallica more than anything else, and there's not much use in denying the correlations of sound. The dense, chugging tone of the guitars, and their constant, forward-barreling charge riffs are highly redolent of Master of Puppets. Chuck Billy's vocals were like a feral James Hetfield if he had been raised by wolves and then later rescued by Native Americans and missionaries, who taught him English as part of his salvation. His howls are like beefed up approximations of James' screams on Kill 'Em All, and he cuts a far more imposing figure for such an insanely nice guy. There's also an epic, dramatic structure to this early Testament songwriting which recalls Puppets' high ideals and ambition. I wouldn't place this on quite the same pedestal of quality as its forebear (after all, that album is about the tops for me and this genre), and the mix of the guitars in particular can get a little muddy, but it certainly does daddy proud.
Where the two greatly diverge, however, is in the melodic structuring of guitars. Where Metallica's leads were borne off NWOBHM and hard rock/blues, Alex Skolnick had a heavy outside influences from jazz and classical music, and this translates heavily to both the solos and harmonies, despite both he and Hammett sharing the esteemed shredder Joe Satriani as a teacher. The result is this very ominous, spectral (and often surgical) feel to the tunes, well groomed to the concrete dynamics of Eric Peterson's strong palm muting rhythmic ability. Louie Clemente was a harder hitting drummer than Lars Ulrich, though his beats are regulated through the album and never indulge themselves beyond the necessary. Greg Christian is a firm, dextrous bassist, but he'd really shine later with Practice What You Preach, where you can hear his playing more clearly outside of the rhythm guitars. Here's he rifling along, smothered in the weight of the primordial, processed cellulose of the chugging. All told, though, Testament was loaded with weaponry from the start (even when they had Steve 'Zetro' of Exodus on vocals before Billy), and it really shows through in the compositional level of this debut.
There are about a half dozen tunes here standing out from the rest, but there isn't one among the nine that drags its feet behind in terms of sheer energy and momentum. "Alone in the Dark" is a particular favorite, for the melodic chorus vocals, ghostly melodies, and the percussive meter of the vocals in both the verses and the kickass breakdown. But then you've also got the equally ambitious "Apocalyptic City", with an excellent intro of clean guitars, leads and Christian's lines at long last muscling onto the listener's radar (this whole sequence is also a nice foreshadowing for various moments on The New Order). This is followed by a pair of the best, most melodic rhythm charges of their career, and the pre-chorus and chorus sequences are likewise brilliant as they erupt into ballistic speed. Truly an anthem worthy of a post-nuclear dystopia in which bands of rabid, ravenous mutants battle with motorcycles and spiked chains over the last surviving mate-flesh; and you can envision all of this in your mind while listening. Further notables includie "Burnt Offerings" with more of Alex's haunted, unforgettable leads, and some killer scale-driven verses; and "Raging Waters", which no swarthy thrashing sea-dog worth his salt should ever live without!
The other popular tracks, like "C.O.T.L.O.D. (Curse of the Legions of Death)", "Over the Wall" and "First Strike is Deadly" haven't resonated with me quite so much, but they're still a deadly arsenal of pent up, volatile riffing patterns that provide a lot of the album's mosh-worthiest moments, and in truth you could listen to the full 39 minutes of the album front to back to front again for 20 years and never get tired of it. My one real complaint about The Legacy is that the production seems a little dated, not nearly so pristine or immortal as Reign in Blood, Master of Puppets, or other A-listers of the scene. Both my cassette and CD versions have both suffered from the punchy, semi-muffled tone of the rhythm guitar, and in my own ignorance I've never looked up or tracked down a worthy remaster. Not necessarily a deal breaker, and it hardly can distract me from songs this well-written, but I always felt there was a level of polish missing from this album that would have amplified my appreciation, and to this day it slightly skews the album's value to the negative (though The Legacy's successors do a fine job of cleaning it up).
That aside, who in the disreputable fires of Hell wouldn't wanna own this thing? If not, you are one sloppy, unprepared cockroach who won't last long in the crud and cracks once Armageddon rains from the sky in a metallic nuclear symphony. It's a fantastic start to a largely consistent repertoire, and instantly established Testament (for good reason) as one of the go-to bands beyond the 'Big Four' of US thrash. The lyrics are steeped in horror, violence, even some political relevance as in the opener "Over the Wall". The Legacy is one of those records that, with ease, helped validate thrash metal as a viable artistic playground in which to forage and toil. It was sophisticated enough for guitar gurus, heavy enough for pitbreeds, dark enough to let the listener's imagination soar through its dark network of urban and subterranean corridors. Not the best of '87 by any means, but a survivor, through and through.
Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10] (once you're in, you wont' come out)
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Testament - The Gathering (1999)
Amazingly, The Gathering also boasts what must be the highest profile roster in the band's career, with Slayer skinbasher Dave Lombardo sitting in on the drums, bass virtuoso Steve DiGiorgio taking over for Ramirez, and James Murphy returning to the lead guitar position. Essentially, the two Testament loyalists (Billy and Peterson) backed up by extreme metal royalty, and gods do they all sound fucking great here. No offense to Louie Clemente, John Tempesta or Gene Hoglan, but Lombardo's performance on this record is the singular greatest drumming on any Testament release. His mix is far more robust than one might be used to with his Slayer input, but that runs parallel to the style of music here, and he excels at both the accelerated thrashing and breakdowns. The kicks and snares sound superb, the cymbals a little dingier, but he's the best navigator to steer a track like opener "D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)", one of album's strongest, to success. DiGiorgio is remarkably selfless, keeping himself busy without overextending or indulging himself as he often did on the Sadus records.
But I have to hand the M.V.P. to a tie between the guitarists. The riffs Murphy and Peterson mete out in this feel more savage, complex and compelling than the two albums prior. I love how taut the pair are through the rampaging opener, or the more surgical riff progressions in cuts like "Riding the Snake". Billy is also firing on all cylinders, returning to the subtly melodic nature of his earlier career inflection but still weaving in a lot of the guttural growls he honed through the mid-90s, especially on "Legions of the Dead", which delivers pure death/thrash in a way Demonic never could, writhing tremolo riffs carved into the primal, exhausting thrust. The choruses in "D.N.R.", "Down for Life" and both about as catchy as anything off Souls of Black, and this album is overall quite deep in terms of the variation offered, from fun and fancy grooves to faster blitzes style after "Into the Pit", to everything in between. In fact, by all 'technical' accounts, this should be one of my fave thrash records of all time, so balanced, professional and polished in delivery.
The reason it's not: for all its strengths, The Gathering is one of the most easily forgettable Testament efforts, because it's really just an embellishment on the catchier tracks the band was writing during its prime. The riffs, while revitalized, never feel all that fresh or new, only heavier and angrier, and I am all too rarely compelled to listen through this, despite how goddamn clear and present a danger it exudes from the stereo speakers. Billy and Peterson certainly culled exemplary performances form their extended family for this outing, but aside from 3-4 of the individual songs, nothing really stands to memory, like a well directed and filmed sci-fi action film that just has no heart, no theme upon which to clasp the imagination. It goes without saying that this is superior to Demonic in every department, but in retrospect I find myself returning to even Low more often than I do this, which was shocking when I take into account my initial, strong reaction. If anything, at least this 'righted the wrongs' of its predecessor, and got the Californians' back on track, albeit a short-lived one that would kick off the longest hiatus of their history.
Verdict: Win [7/10]
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Testament - Demonic (1997)
Demonic is the group's 'death metal' album, by which I mean it's not actually death metal, but possessive of guttural vocals. Chuck Billy introduced this style on songs like "Dog Faced Gods" on the previous album, so it's not as if they were unprecedented or surprising, but the fact that he uses them as the rule and not the exception might have evoked some dissatisfaction in those fans enamored with his more muscular take on the Hetfield style. In other words, you won't find much melody here aside from some chorus lines in "New Eyes of Old" or "Ten Thousand Thrones", and it might prove a deal breaker. While broadly guttural and abusive, Billy has a tendency to veer towards the monotonous with too many repetitions in this voice, and without might, memorable riffs to support him in this venture, the transition to the growls is not so successful. That said, the bigger problem for me on this album is the lack of truly great songs. The riffs feel more saturated with industrial nonchalance, and lack that ominous, larger than life impression I use to take from their classic 80s works. About 50% of the chugging note progressions on this album are dull as watching the text scroll by on your local town Cablevision channel.
It's not without a few positives. For one, the revolving door of the band's roster had spun once more, with percussion god Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death) replacing John Tempesta's short-lived position as he flew off to a greener pasture (White Zombie); and you can tell, because while they're hardly the most complex or exciting beats and fills he's laid out for an album, they handle each leaden groove meticulously. Greg Christian had also disappeared, but they kept his bass slot 'in the family' by drafting up Derrick Ramirez (who had played with the band in their earlier incarnation Legacy). A few of the songs are actually quite decent, in particular "Demonic Refusal", with its faux-Satanic reverse countdown intro and incredible breakdown grooves. Both the chorus and the later rolling double-bass sequence in the bridge are incredibly slammable and entertaining, and it's no wonder such a strategy became mandatory for just about every metalcore act you could shake a Vegan jerky at over the ensuing decade. You can feel this song right down in the center of your stomach, where it repeatedly clocks you with combination punches, and the other highlights of the record, like the cheesy "Jun-Jun" succeed largely because they are similar in nature.
Unfortunately, Demonic is not a single or an EP, but a 41 minute full-blown album, and there are painfully few moments of it that earn their keep. If you're just seeking something caustic, unfeeling and pummeling like a giant that drags its knuckles through a mountain pass, then this might fit the bill for a few listens. It's heavy for heavy's sake, and it's chugga chugga bruise bruise all night long. The 'death metal' elements that so many credit to this record are primarily in the vocals, a few of the breakdowns, and an occasional spike of tremolo picked evil (as in "Murky Waters"), but they're not necessarily the dominant aesthetic, which is instead a sort of fist-balled brute-thrash made for pit fightin'. If your life consists of 'mosh first, metal second'; that is to say, windmill kicks and shoving girls and other man-children around to sate the blood lust you can't express at your warehouse or mall job, then I think you might likely consider this the 'greatest' of Testament. Otherwise, it's a crushing average, not nearly so inspiring as any of the albums that came before or after, with a well of cute gimmicks that runs dry all too quickly.
Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Testament - Low (1994)
If the sorry 90s rubbed anything off on Testament, it might have been the slight influence of groove metal circa bands like Machine Head or Pantera, but while I've met people who consider this their 'groove' album, I am driven to disagree. There's even more of an emphasis on the mid-paced chugging guitars, and they sound a lot more massive than, say, Souls of Black or Practice What You Preach, yet at their core the rhythm progressions follow similar patterns, they've just got a lot more meat on their bones in cuts like "Low" itself, or the caustic "Shades of War". Sure, there is some bounce to "Hail Mary", "All I Could Bleed" or "Chasing Fear", and you could jump da fuc up to those if you were so inclined, but it's still the same dark thrash metal, with a not dissimilar, atmospheric grandiloquence coursing through its veins as the older works. Where a lot of people turned to this group for the impressive leads of emergent guitar guru Alex Skolnick, the focus here seems even heavier on the mechanics of the rhythm guitars. Murphy is, of course, a seasoned shredder himself, and it was interesting to hear him experiment on the instrumental "Urotsukidoji" (named for the perverse tentacle porn anime) alongside some of Greg Christian's bass acrobatics.
Elsewhere, Low is business as usual. I didn't notice a huge difference between John Tempesta's style and his predecessor, though the guy was certainly rigged to provide a harder pummeling for the 90s audience. While Demonic is generally considered the album in which Testament foraged further into death metal pastures, you certainly hear a bit of that here through Chuck Billy's increasingly guttural inflection on a tune like "Dog Faced Gods", which is one of the most impressive and brutal on the album, with some Vio-lence like picking sequences dowsed in the big man's guttural abuse. There's also the requisite 'ballad' here, "Trail of Tears", above which Billy implements the clean, melodic timbre of "The Ballad", but while its not one of my faves on this album, it's at least smooth enough to forgive, with a nice lead tucked into the chugging bridge, and lyrics that serve as a foreshadowing to their latest effort, Dark Roots of Earth. There's not a lot of faster material on this album, but then there hadn't been for years; nonetheless, I did feel that there was a bit too much of a cantering tempo to much of Low that often feels samey or repetitive in tone, if not precise riff structure.
Also, very few of these tracks have had an impact on me in the long run. Like Souls of Black, I felt as if there were about 4-5 really good tunes, and the rest are disarmingly average, whereas The Ritual has had me glued to much of its run time for the past 20 years. Though they do tackle a few interesting subjects like ancient Egypt ("Dog Faced Gods"), a lot of the political, psychological, conspiracy lyrics were admittedly bland even by Testament standards. Still, I should point out that, while it was for me the least impressive of their full-lengths to its day, this is no steaming pile of shit like Slayer released with Diabolus in Musica, or Megadeth's Risk, or Metallica's Load. Though not quite as successful as they might have desired, Testament managed to weather its mutating roster and the questionable influences of the prevalent trends without losing its sense of identity. When you compare Low to The Legacy or The New Order, it sounds like a mild evolution of the same group, rather than some disconnected abortion of a career. Not one of their best records by any means, but it proudly keeps its head above the water.
Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (show some sympathy)
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Testament - Dark Roots of Earth (2012)
Frankly, I'm surprised that this wasn't used as the central concept for an earlier album, so Dark Roots of Earth seems like an idea whose time almost overdue. Thankfully, Billy does a pretty knockout job of it without overstepping anyone's sensitivity. Though the lyrics are often too simplistic and cliche ridden, one can tell there's a serious personal investment in a piece like "Native Blood", and most of the songs cover a more broad spectrum of sociopolitical unrest that most of us can probably relate to, regardless of our color and history, par for the course when one glimpses back through even the earlier Testament records like The New Order, Souls of Black and The Ritual. I've read a number of the usual ignorant flailings about how this album is the 'true return to form of their 80s work' or whatnot, but these are laughable, as anyone having listened to the prior full-length would have recognized the various cues and riffing progressions that hearken straight back to the band's 1987-1992 period. In fact, despite the broth of familiar note formations that this is boiled in, I found Dark Roots of Earth mildly more experimental, to distance itself a little further.
Which is both a boon and a curse in this case, because while most of the vocal lines are pure Billy, the requisite haughtier Hetfield timbre the guy's always been known for, I found some of the call and response vocals, like the chorus of "Rise Up", or the almost rapped, tough guy inflection during the bridge of "Native Blood" itself too feel silly among the gravitas of the music's message. Dark Roots of Earth doesn't exactly start out on a strong foot, since "Rise Up" feels so decidedly average, and the power ballad "Cold Embrace", molded in the vein of something like "The Ballad", felt redundant. Otherwise, most of the core cuts are quite solid, pieces like "True American Hate" and "Man Kills Mankind" offering some exhilarating passages of menace that often hinge on melodic death metal, while not abandoning the more guttural inflection Billy had begun to adopt more heartily on albums like Low and Demonic; and "Throne of Thorns" is simply majestic with its gallant, surgical melodies. There's no unified sense throughout this disc that Testament are just resting on their laurels (which, to a degree, the prior album was somewhat guilty of). You get hints of the past, but also that they incorporate anything they feel will service the song.
It helps a lot that this album sounds so damn huge, with a meaty, polished rhythm guitar tone which faithfully emulates the band's 'legacy' without constraint. Greg Christian's bass is fat and lumbering, especially when he's alone as with the intro to "A Day in the Death", but you can always hear him rupturing along beneath Peterson and Skolnick's chugging butchery. Gene Hoglan has returned to Testament for this record, and his presence is likewise felt, obviously restraining his limitless ferocity to what matches the writing, but he's got plenty of great fills and sounds just as strong in this child's play as his more incendiary performances. Best of all, though, would be the leads, which are without exception well-structured and interesting, branching out from the excess Skolnick has employed in the past to showcase his jazz chops. They're not always the most complex of passages considering the talent involved, but they add to each track, rather than the seemingly useless fretboard exercises that plague a lot of thrash (past and present).
I'm probably in the minority that will enjoy this record less than its predecessor (just like I was in the minority who didn't think Overkill's Ironbound was the second coming of thrash-Jesus), but I've already found that after a dozen listens its charms have begun to wear thin. The musicianship is spot on, and I appreciate that they went for a broader approach to the writing, but there are honestly only 3-4 songs here I feel repeatedly compelled to visit. I found the bonus covers a mixed bag, with Iron Maiden's "Powerslave" adhering more closely to the band's pummeling prowess than the sillier takes on Queen's "Dragon Attack" or the Scorpions' "Animal Magnetism". That said, as proof of Testament's sustained viability in the modern thrash market, Dark Roots of Earth is more than adequate. Anyone would be lucky to be writing at this level 30 years into their career, and Bay Area purists who enjoy bands like Warbringer, or the newer Exodus records will break their necks off and feast their hearts out to its swarthy sounds.
Verdict: Win [7.5/10]
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Testament - First Strike Still Deadly (2001)
I mention Exodus partly because one of the highlights of this collection is Steve 'Zetro' Sousa's presence on the final cuts, "Alone in the Dark" and "Reign of Terror". Sousa was actually the original Testament vocalist back when they were known as Legacy, before signing to Atlantic and releasing their debut by that name; so to hear him bury the hatchet and belt out a few numbers for his alma mater is something special indeed, not that they trump the Chuck Billy versions by any means. In fact, I would not have minded the band pulling a few more rabbits out of its hat and just recruiting other friends from Bay Area thrash legends to front the other songs on the compilation. Russ Anderson on "Disciples of the Watch"? Steev Esquivel doing "The Preacher"? Sean Killian on "Into the Pit"? Tom Araya? James Hetfield? Such a lineup could have gone a long way towards increasing the value of First Strike Still Deadly, even if it meant Chuck had to sit out on the sidelines (I'm sure he'd have been smiling along with everyone else). Fans often seem to have a problem with newer singers in established bands (like Dukes) spewing their lackluster inflection over classics, but perhaps a vocal tribute with the core musicians wouldn't be such a shitty idea...
That is not what First Strike Still Deadly is, of course, and for the most part, Billy returns to his role. All of the songs here are taken from the first two albums (with the exception of "Reign of Terror", a tune that had popped up earlier on a single, as well as the Return to the Apocalyptic City EP). Naturally, the major difference here is one of tones and instrumentation. The guitars are presented with a chuggier, modern disposition than the originals, though I can't say they're an improvement, because they seem to lack the same level of resonance and atmosphere as they once did. In fact, the whole of this is surprisingly unpolished, like the band didn't do a whole lot of post-production, and it almost has the feel of a pristine rehearsal room performance. Bass god Steve DiGiorgio performs the bass here, and he adds a few minor runs to the older lines, but never goes overboard; while Skolnick's leads are a little more prominent due to the clarity of the rhythm guitar mix. Overall, the performances are rather spot on, and having Zetro bark out "Alone in the Dark" with his nasally tone is at least entertaining, if not his most vicious and memorable work.
The major problem I have is that these renditions of the tunes, due to their dryer production, lack almost all of the ominous magic that the originals once possessed once you'd put the tape or vinyl of The Legacy of The New Order into your deck or player for the first hundred times. The drums feel too clean, and while the rhythm guitars are fully on point, they seem almost too far in the forefront, and I dare say it, too punchy. I think the vocals themselves probably benefit the most from this treatment, since Billy adds some extra growls to classics like "Into the Pit", but even then, they're just a retread of his original lines. Hell, I would love to see the band perform this tightly at a live gig, but for my own listening preferences there is just no shot in hell that I'm going to put these on over the earlier albums, and aside from throwing a couple of bucks at them, it doesn't serve much purpose in my world, though it's far from the worst example of this sort of collection.
Verdict: Indifference [6/10]
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Testament - Live at Eindhoven '87 (2009)
This was recorded at the band's 1987 Dynamo Open Air set in Holland, proof that even very early in their career, the Californians were being pushed to the major label thrash elite, and generating buzz everywhere. It was originally released only a few months after The Legacy, and thus all the content is taken from that one album; however, the 2009 reissue actually features the full set with about 20 minutes more material than the old EP with just 5 songs. In addition to "Over the Wall", "Burnt Offerings", "Do Or Die", "Apocalyptic City" and the rare "Reign of Terror" you're also getting "The Haunting", "C.O.T.L.O.D.", "First Strike is Deadly", and Alex Skolnick shredding track (admittedly useless) and an early bird version of "Disciples of the Watch". Sadly there's no "Alone in the Dark", a personal favorite, but with the limited set time at a large festival, you do what you can, and from the sounds of it, Testament had a strong reaction from the Europeans, many of whom must have been entirely new to the band at this time.
For whatever reason, though, the levels here are far from perfect. Might have just been the wind, or some natural sound warping through the mixing board or amplifiers, but the guitars here often feel a bit clunky, with minor errors occurring throughout the set. A few, like "Disciples of the Watch" sound fairly strong for such an unseasoned band. Billy works up the crowd angrily, and I like the levels most of the band is set at, but there are points where drums and vocals actually seem to dip in volume and then swell back into perception, and it's just not such a consistent experience. The leads probably sound sloppier than Skolnick would have liked, and sometimes the rhythm guitars feel too boxy and echoed. That said, a few of the 'charge' riffs in the set come off just as impactful as they would anywhere else, and those into the earlier thrash live recordings might actually excuse the flaws for its innocence and authenticity. As for the new cover art, seems like something somewhat cheap and digital slapped together, and Prosthetic Records, a label known mostly for its melodic death and metalcore, seems a strange home for it. In the end, it's a noble cause to get this thing back out into the hands of fans who never had a chance to buy it the first time (raising my hand here), but not exactly worth the wait after we'd already gotten steamrolled (in a good way) by Live in London.
Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Testament - Live in London (2005)
Issued as both an audio CD and DVD presentation, this and the following 2008 full-length Formation of Damnation provide an excellent 'second wind' for the Californians' career. Every track in this set is a classic revisited, with a relatively even distribution across the the first five albums (even The Ritual getting some love with "Electric Crown" and "Let Go of My World"). The guitar tone is crushing, with mighty palm mutes and dynamic breadth that sound superb whether the band is chugging along at mid pace or engaging one of their older school barrages like "Into the Pit". The drums are deep and haughty, the bass just as prevalent as on any of their studio records, and what's more, Skolnick is a living frenzy throughout, his leads exciting and one has to wonder how these two camps ever survived without each others' company. Chuck Billy is great, as every time I've ever seen him, putting a slightly meatier spin on the vocals than the old days, if only because Testament has wisely decided to not to entirely abandon the influence of their heavier records like Low and Demonic. Fine by me, since I've never had much of an issue with either.
I worship the sheer magnitude of the band's sound here, with the crowd hiss casually blanketed over the instruments to remind the listener where they are, without ever obscuring the musical delivery. There are a few moments of gang shouts or transitions where they don't seem quite as tight as one could hope, but these are rare enough not to mar the overall experience. Obviously, if given the choice, I'd say to go for the DVD over the CD if only because that visual element is important to 'being there', but even as a standalone this destroys Live at the Fillmore, Return to the Apocalyptic City, and the reissued Live at Eindhoven 87. Finally an engineer had done right by this band, and thanks to a near spotless performance these mighty and magnificent tunes are given their due. "Raging Waters", "Trial by Fire", even "Souls of Black" sounds superb, even with the smokier vocals. The one Testament live you can feel great about dropping some coin on, even if it's not the simplest to find these years.
Verdict: Win [8/10]
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Testament - Live at the Fillmore (1995)
As for the set list, there's an appreciable mix of tracks from the first four albums and Low, with The Ritual absent altogether from the live majority of the release. As much as I love that album (it's probably my favorite in the band's career), I think I can understand its lack of presence: the band had just toured on that album and wanted to focus on their newer material, and it suffered from a divisive reaction from their fan base. That said, the material presented here is varied and rounded enough, from "Hail Mary" or "Low" back on into the essentials "Alone in the Dark", "Apocalyptic City", "Eerie Inhabitants" and "The Preacher", to name a few. It's paced out well, generally heavy as fuck, and one of the more interesting components for me was hearing Murphy performing in Skolnick's stead on pieces like the instrumental "A Dirge". That said, there were times through the album where I felt the levels were a little shaky, in particular the panning of the guitars into my 'phones has always seemed to leech them of the charging power that was present on even the live cuts from Return to the Apocalyptic City, and it gets much worse for lead/rhythm guitar sequences.
The drums sound a bit snappy and plain, also, and everyone in the band seems almost as if they were performing from a separate stage. I did enjoy Billy's added aggression here, his 'death metal' gruffness even applied more ferociously to the earlier songs (though it was the status quo on albums like Demonic or Low). There are also a number of notable glitches, especially in the rhythm guitar where the music just doesn't present itself with the same force and solidarity as the studio output, but that's no easy task for a live record, and to some extent it can be forgiven. As for the 'acoustic' studio pieces, they basically take some of the power ballads from the prior albums and then drop the electric guitars. "The Legacy" and "Return to Serenity" certainly don't suffer from the treatment, but I found "Trail of Tears" bland outside of the leads. Nothing impressive or effective, really, but then at least they threw these onto this record rather than trying to put out an MTV Unplugged with Testament.
Honestly, as someone waiting a decade for this to finally happen, I was a little underwhelmed by Live at the Fillmore. There's plenty of content, and the live performances don't sound 'bad', per se, but this is just not one of those amazing thrash lives which begs to be in your collection (like a Live Without Sense). I have no problems with the track selections, and considering Murphy and Dette were still pretty new to the band, the performances were adequate, but it's not something to pay import or EBay prices for.
Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Testament - Return to the Apocalyptic City EP (1993)
Granted, the four live cuts that represent 66% of this release give an adequately pummeling, with a lot of punch to the guitars, brute vocals, audible drums, bumping bass, and that threatening, oblique atmosphere the band had mastered through the first few studio albums manifest at the Los Angeles Palladium. Really can't say I'm disappointed with the performances at all, especially "Over the Wall" and a personal favorite, "Disciples of the Watch", but when all is said and done, there are just too few to effectively boil the blood over to satisfaction. It's important to note that this was not performed with the entire original lineup; Chuck Billy, Eric Peterson and Greg Christian were joined by their Forbidden friends Paul Bostaph and Glen Alvelais to round this out, and both do a solid job of filling out the estimable shoes of Clemente and Skolnick. Overall, the performances are effective and strong sounding on a stereo, I just wish there were about a dozen more here..
Return to the Apocalyptic City also includes a useless radio edit of "Return to Serenity" (I like the song, but trying to compact an already accessible piece for radio reeks of major label bullshit). The most exciting track here, though, is very likely "Reign of Terror", a track they had back on their demo that they'd continued to perform through the years, winding up on the Trial by Fire single. It's a decent, forceful piece with some great, hoarse assertions and screaming from Billy, but I'd say it often sounds a bit too much like a pastiche of other tunes off The Legacy and The New Order and I can understand why it was never represented officially on one of the studio albums. Does it warrant a purchase of the entire EP? Not so much, and the fact that there are no other rarities here speaks once again to the very 'meekness' of this release. Most likely those who acquired this did so at little personal cost, I can remember it wading through the cut-out bargain bins back in the 90s, and if you find it dirt cheap and love Testament, have at it. Otherwise, there's not enough of anything on offer here to really bother with it.
Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10]
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
Monday, November 3, 2008
Testament - The Formation of Damnation (2008)
Numerous bands have issued new albums this year that were 'returns to form', after numerous years of hiatus. Metallica would be the most glaring example, but I'm surprised people have already forgotten about Testament's latest offering, the first in many years to have Alex back on the guitars. I'm even more surprised, because not only is it the best album these guys have released since The Ritual, but it's also one of the best pure thrashings we've had this year.
Things get heated immediately with the instrumental "For the Glory of..." and suddenly you are back in 1988, The New Order, but with a more modern sound, and what an excellent production. "More Than Meets the Eye" rages forward with an epoch of Chuck Billy whoah-oh-ohs and then a thrashing beat down. What the fuck? Where has this beloved Testament been all these years? Because this. is. AWESOME. Alright, alright, to be fair a lot of their 90s material was decent, but not nearly as consistent as this. Billy's voice is insane, Alex fits right back in as if he'd never left (the last full-length he was on with these guys was The Ritual, an amazing album and personal favorite, if a bit more mellow than most of their work). The next track "The Evil Has Landed" is more pure old school Testament, like it literally could have appeared on any of their first four albums.
But I haven't even arrived at "Henchman Ride" one of the best songs this band has ever produced in their entire career, with some inspirationally fucking awesome lyrics. The song is called "Henchman Ride", and when you hear it you want to fucking obey. Get on your hog or your horse or whatever century you come from and ride into battle for your dark lords and masters.
Forward, shifting gears in the wind the henchmen ride
American bliss American pride in a world where the henchmen ride
Going fast is a way of life no fear in the way they die
Forward, shifting gears in the wind the henchmen ride
Wait, have I made a mistake here, Watson? Is this a kinda pro-American song in an age of bitter, two faced media brainwashed liberal irony and dour condescension? I do believe it is, Dr. Holmes. This is a seriously amazing re-stoking of the furnace that was/is the prime of Testament. Energy, aggression, sick riffing, amazing tone, no apologies. And thank every god you praise for it, in 2008. Thrash until death, brothers.
Verdict: Severe Case of Win [8.5/10] (condemned to hell, condemned to fate, condemned to time)
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
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