Customer Reviews

Formation of Damnation

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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

When The Formation Of Damnation first came out in '08, I was very excited. It showed the Testament that fans of The Legacy, The New Order, and Practice What You Preach really wanted to hear. Not saying that fans didn't want to hear another Gathering sounding album or that it was a bad album. I loved The Gathering. But Alex Skolnick was back in the band, and his presence was heard on Formation. It was like old and new. Now we have the tour edition, and I must say....don't waste your time if you already own the album. They basically took the standard cd (original artwork and all), put a cardboard sleeve over it, and put a bonus cd inside the sleeve. Now, I'll admit that Metal Blade did the exact same thing with Unearth's The March, and I bought into that. But at least it had a bonus dvd with a lot more cool stuff than what you'd get here. What you get with this edition of Formation is a bonus cd with three live tracks, and as a cd enhancement (for those that don't know, there's a logo that says enhanced cd on some cd's you buy. That means you put the cd in your computer for additional content like video content and such.), the music video for "More Than Meets The Eye," and the video footage of the same three songs you hear on the same disc. I was at least expecting a bonus dvd of some sort, like the one that came with the import version of the album that has the making of it. That would have been better, or if it was a full live concert dvd or cd, that would have been great too. Anyway, I'm a big fan of the album, not this edition though. If you don't already have the cd, go ahead and get it. If you do, don't bother upgrading to this version.

When I first bought this album not too long after it was released I listened to it pretty regularly for a couple of weeks or so. I thought then as I do now that despite a few issues it was a solid Testament release that I'd enjoy for years to come. So why now over a year after its release do I find myself not able to recall the last time I listened to it?
It's because this record is just another unfortunate victim of what many in and out of the music industry term the loudness wars.

Now in this case I'm not sure if this is totally the fault of the mastering job done here or if the instruments themselves were just recorded too close to zero db. I would guess it's a combination of both. It all adds up to a record that is overly loud with everything at the same volume and just fatiguing to listen to. This just plain sucks because I like the music contained here.

So now you say, hey you idiot this is metal, it's supposed to be loud! What are you, some kind of stupid audio snob? Nobody can even hear what you're talking about!
For an even more current example just take a look at the discussion on the net surrounding the newest Metallica album. You'll find many people giving these same complaints. When metal-heads start to complain about overly loud albums with clipping and distortion, you know something is up.

Ever since I completed my Testament collection a few years ago, by downloading the two songs from Demonic he doesn't growl all the way through, I've been eagerly awaiting a new Testament album. I had high expectations going in because even my least favorite album of theirs, except Demonic, I still liked quite a bit. I'd say I like this one about as much as The ritual or Souls Of black. The album for the most part has a newer Testament sound with a mostly older style, with some new thrown in as well. I like that their original lead guitarist is back. One thing I missed on The Gathering was the great guitar solos. If you're a Testament fan then you can't go wrong with buying this album. Most of it is at least worth listening to, and there's nothing really horrible.

More Than Meets The Eye - 9/10 A quick paced song, and a good opener, not counting the instrumental. I like the beat of the drums, and the guitar solo's a good one. Nice mix of growls in the background during the last chorus.

The Evil Has Landed - 6/10 This one's played quickly, but the verses have a slower pace to them. The chorus ismoves a little more. Musically this one's ok. The vocal melodies are pretty good. There's just something about this song that I don't care for. Mostly I think it's the lyrics. I'm not saying they couldn't pull off a 911 song, but the lyrics seem a little too blunt for me.

The Formation Of Damnation - 3/10 No. Just no. I don't care for songs where all of the vocals are growling, and Chuck doesn't have good sounding growl anyway. Songs like this are why I don't care for but two songs on Demonic. I don't mind some growling, D.N.R. and Down For Life are great songs and I love how he uses his growl in those, I just can't get into a whole song of it.

Dangers Of The Faithless - 5/10 I like the chorus, but I can't get into the verses. I just really hate them. Mostly it's the vocals, which are almost just talking.

The Persecuted Won't Forget - 5/10 So we had a song with a good chorus, but crappy verses, now we get a song with good verses and no real chorus. This one's a faster paced song. This one just doesn't have anything after the verses that stick with me.

Henchman Ride - 9/10 Here we go. This is another quick-paced song. I like the beat, it's different from that of the other songs on here. The music and vocals are all well done. This is easily one of my favorites on the album. This one's becoming my favorite on the album. I tend to think of this one when I'm at work and I need to be pumped up.

Killing Season - 8/10 This is another good one. It's a little slower, but not much, than the previous song. The beat of this one's a little different as well. I like the chorus

Afterlife - 6/10 This one's a step or so slower than most of the songs on here. It's ok, but nothing really special. Untill I listen to it, I really don't remember it.

Fear - 9/10 This is another faster one, and for a while was my favorite on here. I like how the verses and chorus have completely different beats to them, yet they flow together well. Someone should tell Disturbed that it's ok to change things up, mid-song every now and again. I like towards the end of the song how he moves from his scream to his growl. Great tune. This one also pumps me up a bit.

Leave Me Forever 4/10 I just can't get into this one. The first thought I had when I heard it was that the verses reminded me of the intro to a godsmack song. I can't remember the name of it right now, it was on their Faceless album and it was a single. Testament should not be sounding like Godsmack at all. I also can't get into the relationship lyrics. I remember being annoyed at Megadeth for doing it on the World Needs A hero album. I remember that song had one of the better melodies and music, but the lyrics were awful. The lyrics in this one are better, much better actually than that, but the song itself doesn't do much for me. The vocals in the verses are ok, a bit different for Chuck, which is a good thing, but the song just doesn't do anything for me.

Overall it's an ok album. It's certainly one of the better purchases you can make this year.

The Formation of Damnation was an excellent album from Testament, this being their 9th album so far and they have been getting better throughout the years considering what singer Chuck Billy went through (he successfully recovered from throat cancer and is doing great) they only got heavier as the years progressed, it seems like Testament are still going strong and two old members have returned along with former Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph. The classic Testament thrash sound still lives on in such tracks as the title track and The persecuted won't forget and not to mention the brilliant More than meets the eye which has surprisingly thrashy tempos and blistering leads, it definitely sounds like a mix of the old thrash style found on Practice What You Preach along with the newer sound on The Gathering. I honestly couldn't find a single bad track on this album, it was flawless and it was definetely a great comeback album. The album retains some speed when it gets going it has some of the best frantic,savage riffing I've ever heard along with some fantastic drumming and great soaring melodies while retaining that metal basis, the band is instrumentally proficient with Alex Skolnick providing some great solos check out the great solo on Henchmen Ride which is another favorite song of mine. The songs also have more of a political theme and deals with alot of current events like 9/11 on The evil has landed, Killing season and Fear which is about the dishonest and untrustworthy Bush administration both are great tracks off course, theres also the great song Afterlife which deals with alot of personal stuff that Chuck went through and has some great lyrics, when I first listened to this album I didn't think that they would be as good as before since they were absent for so long but I was completely wrong, it was just amazing. Testament is one of the most respected groups in thrash metal and this album was their best next to Practice, The New Order and Low. Formation is a masterpiece and should be a part of any serious headbanger's collection period so get this album now WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!! \m/.

I've been listening to metal music since 1980 and followed all the trends and twists on the form that have surfaced. When it comes to trash I've listened to it and enjoyed for the last 25 years. There are few releases that I regard as among the best; Reign In Blood and Seasons In The Abyss by Slayer, Bonded By Blood by Exodus, Master Of Puppets and Ride The Lightning Metallica, Peace Sells and Rust In Peace by Megadeth among others.

I've always enjoyed Testament up to a certain degree but never felt they released an album worthy of a inclusion on a top 10 Trash Album list.

But with The Formation Of Damnation they have created a masterpiece of Trash Metal. Sticking to their roots but infusing it with elements of Death and Black Metal. It's catchy as hell, brutal and allt the instruments played with musical mastery.

This is the surely the best Metal release of 2008 and they have set the standard for modern metal that will be very hard to beat.

It will be very interesting to see what the "masters" Metallica will come up with in Death Magnetic. I surely hope Lars, Kirk, James and Robert are listening to this Testament relaese and sweating over how the hell they are going to top it.

Go out and get it!

Since their formation Testament has always delivered and brutal assault of trash to the fans and have yet to compromize their sound which gains great respect along the lines of Slayer. Awesome bands amazing new album!

Unbelievable work of art. Brilliant rythym and lead guitar work. Catchy vocals. Looking forward to the upcoming tour. My only wish would be that they run a headlining tour, as I am sure their set will be too short. A great album for working out or getting ready to make someone pay for being an imbicile. ie. Irish and proud.