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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eric/Chuck, the Page/Plant of Thrash, April 30, 2008
With The Formation of Damnation, Testament delivers the thrash album of the year, hands down. Eric Peterson and Chuck Billy are rejoined by Alex Skolnick, Greg Christian and drummer Paul Bostaph to bring us the metal. Along side Slayer and Exodus, no other band has been as consistent and downright dedicated to give the fans what they want. Eric and Chuck, the heart and soul of this band, and as sadly underrated as they are portrayed, completely shine here. Old school, new school, it doesn't matter. Coming up with an album of this magnitude, takes some skill. And how Eric comes up with some of his riffs(heavy and hooky) is just amazing. Chuck, considering the past couple of years have been pretty rough, turns in an amazing performance as well. Its also really good to have Alex and Greg back in the fold. Having said that, both seem to have a renewed spirit on this one, considering Alex has not been on an album of new material since The Ritual in '92 and Greg since Low in'94. And finally, they could not have picked a better replacement than Paul Bostaph. Considered by many as just a fill in, he owns the drums here, and fits the band like a glove. I received my copy a day early, which was an additional bonus to my already anticipated excitement. In conclusion, I was eagerly awaiting this release and it lived up to my expectations ten fold. Thrash metal fans, check it out, raise the horns, and bang til your dead.
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22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A solid release that will please long time fans., April 29, 2008
For once it's refreshing to see a band's promise about a forthcoming release actually live up to how they hype that it will sound like.
Testament's 1st album of all new material in 9 years was billed by the band of having the songwriting style of their classic 80's material while featuring the much more aggressive playing style/production of 1999's The Gathering (which is still a most amazing album.) Well, that's what we got with The Formation of Damnation.
To be honest, this isn't as great of an album as The Gathering was, and this is coming from a long time fan who has been listening to the band since 1987. I still greatly appreciate their classic material but I felt that with The Gathering the band really reached their apex (depsite the fact that Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson were the only 2 original members left in the group by that point). But The Formation of Damnation is still a very good release that will please long time fans (of Bay Area thrash in particular) while not being quite as earth shattering as it needed to be to convert current audiences into new fans.
Song wise the album isn't as thrashy or as brutal as the Gathering with maybe the exception of the crushing title track. Writing wise a lot of this sounds like The New Order and Practice What you Preach styles with a more brutal guitar/drum attack. Chuck Billy still occasionally dips into his 90's death metal growl at times, but he doesn't do it nearly as much as he did during that period. He sings here much more in his older style and while his range isn't what it used to be he still turns in a tremendous performance. Returning original lead guitarist Alex Skolnick does his usual brilliant guitar work and drummer Paul Bostaph (who played on their Return to Apocalyptic City E.P.) does his always solid and fantastic drum work. Original bass player Greg Christian returns and I was a bit disappointed by how root oriented his playing was on this album, but it still does fit, just don't expect some of his memorable bass lines from yesteryear (with the exception being the final track Leave Me Forever which features a fantastic bass line throughout and was co-written by Greg Christian ironically enough). Eric Peterson still remains one of the most criminally underrated rhythm guitarists (who also can rip great leads) in all of metal and his riff work here is great as always.
Seeing as this is basically a new fresh start for this band, it should be interesting to see how they are able to build on this release as while not being their best work is still much better than a lot of people are probably expecting out of it.
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
To those of you too young to know, May 12, 2008
This is Testament. Formed in 1983 with Steve Souza singing originally known as The Legacy. Since the birth of American thrash back in the 80's Testament has been cranking out metal that was fast, intense and heavy yet melodic. 25 years later We are blessed with this masterpiece of an album. From the very get-go this album gets in the mood to rock. With crushing metal anthems like "More Than Meets the Eye" we see a brand new old band resurge with awesome crafted guitar riffs that seem to punch the ear drums as if to say, "Don't call it a comeback!" Alex Scholnick and Eric Petereson's chops cannot be matched by many. They shine on this album as if they never missed a beat. "The Evil Has Landed' displays a sort of Practice What you Preach era. One of my favorite solos is on this song. The title track is probably the most intense song I've heard since "Of Dog Faced Gods" off Low. Killer breakdown and double-bass by Bostaph(a far better drummer than Tempesta). Do yourself a favor and don't drive listening to "The Persecuted Won't Forget". Your bound to want to get a speeding ticket and possibly a bad case of road rage. "F.E.A.R. is one the most old-school songs I've heard them do in years. Sounds like maybe something off of The New Order. Very 80's type rock chorus with a fat solo break and dueling leads. All in all kiddies this band help influence and pave the way for bands like Shadows Fall, Avenged Sevenfold, The Absence,Trivium. So put this record and school yourself with some old-school metal
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