TESTAMENT — The Formation Of Damnation

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3.94 | 50 ratings | 5 reviews

Album · 2008

Filed under Thrash Metal
By TESTAMENT

Tracklist

1. For the Glory of... (1:12)
2. More Than Meets the Eye (4:33)
3. The Evil Has Landed (4:44)
4. The Formation of Damnation (5:09)
5. Dangers of the Faithless (5:47)
6. The Persecuted Won't Forget (5:49)
7. Henchmen Ride (4:00)
8. Killing Season (4:52)
9. Afterlife (4:13)
10. F.E.A.R. (4:46)
11. Leave Me Forever (4:28)

Total Time: 49:38

Line-up/Musicians

- Chuck Billy / Vocals
- Alex Skolnick / Lead guitar
- Eric Peterson / Rhythm, lead guitar
- Greg Christian / Bass
- Paul Bostaph / Drums

About this release

Release date: April 29th, 2008
Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Rereleased in 2010 with a bonus disc contaning the following tracks:

1. The New Order (4:53)
2. Practice What You Preach (5:11)
3. Souls of Black (4:06)

Thanks to Stooge, UMUR, Time Signature, diamondblack for the updates

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TESTAMENT THE FORMATION OF DAMNATION reviews

Specialists/collaborators reviews

Warthur

Eh, I dunno guys. The thrashier bits of this album are pretty good, but there's a certain spin on the vocals from Chuck Billy, particularly on the more groove metal/alternative metal parts, which somehow doesn't quite work for me. Perhaps part of the issue is the smooth production style, which doesn't bring out the more hard-edged aspects of Testament's sound quite as well as it would emerge on latter-day albums like The Gathering or Dark Roots of Earth. It's still listenable and fun, but it doesn't hit the higher tiers of Testament's catalogue. Grab it if you're a big fan of the band but don't make it your first port of call.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #324826

Kingcrimsonprog

Testament return with a brand new studio album, reuniting 4/5 of the classic line up and bringing with them the incredible Paul Bostaph, one of metal’s most underrated drummers and a true embodiment of thrash itself.

What a strong album The Formation Of Damnation truly is. The album mixes the band’s trademark thrash metal roots with the more contemporary style found on later releases such as ‘The Gathering,’ to create a very heavy, very fast and ultimately a very impressive album.

The blistering ‘More Than Meets the Eye,’ is incredibly fast and catchy, highlighting the bands thrash metal style, which contrasts nicely with the title track; ‘The Formation of Damnation,’ which is a more modern mixture of contemporary metal and death metal. (Especially rewarding considering Chuck Billy’s impressive vocal style)

Elsewhere, the poignant track ‘Afterlife,’ uses a mixture of melody and terrific lyrics to deliver a simple but effective message in a powerful style.

Overall, This is the sort of album that you will still be listening to in twenty years time, it just feels like a classic and sounds like a monster. ‘Brutal,’ is an understatement, but its the closest you’re going to get to a fitting description. The album toes the line between modern and classic in a very successful way, and I strongly recommend you give it a chance. Its as creative as ‘Low,’ and as energetic as ‘The Legacy.’

I can’t recommend this album highly enough.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #252648

bonnek

A welcome return for Testament, 9 years since their previous studio effort and after all the health issues Chuck Billy went through this album is nothing short of a little miracle. First of all for existing, secondly for being so damn good. Just like Metallica's "Death Magnetic" and Megadeth's "End Game", also "The Formation of Damnation" is an old-school back-to-roots release.

Unlike those two other bands, Testament never strayed much from their roots and again they prove that if you're born a Thrash metal dude, you better stick to your guns and deliver! That's what they do and they do it with amazing energy and attitude. Similar as on the preceding "The Gathering", Chuck Billy mainly sticks to Death metal growls, but there are also more melodic moments again such as on "Dangers of the Faithless". Alex Skolnick is back on guitars and delivers his classic Thrash metal riffing and great leads. Despite being old-school, it all sounds really fresh and enthusiastic. You can hear the band's love for what they're doing in every track.

It's retro, done, déjà vu, but it's pure and heart-felt, and it completely blows away Metallica's forced attempts at sounding rejuvenated. One of Testament's best albums.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #234949

UMUR

The Formation of Damnation is the 9th full-length studio album by American thrash metal act Testament. The album was released in April 2008 by Nuclear Blast Records. Testament reunited in the original lineup for the recording of the Live in London (2005) album ( well John Tempesta was behind the drum kit for the first half of the album, and original Testament drummer Louie Clemente, plays on the second half). The drummer on The Formation of Damnation is the prolific and omnipresent Paul Bostaph. The rest of the lineup is the classic formation of Chuck Billy on vocals, Alex Skolnick on guitars, Eric Peterson on guitars and Greg Christian on bass. It´s been nine long years since the release of The Gathering (1999), which is due to the fact that Chuck Billy was diagnosed with cancer in 2002 and his struggle to beat the illness of course meant longer period of inactiviy but the band also had many concert commitments in the periods where Chuck Billy was able to perform and that further delayed the recording of The Formation of Damnation.

The music on The Formation of Damnation is in the trademark Testament thrash metal style. If anything the band display that they are not the kind of band that follows trends. For most of their career they´ve pretty much stuck to their guns and that´s earned them great respect among thrash metal fans all over the world. While the songs on The Formation of Damnation are high quality thrash metal assaults and the return of Alex Skolnick really boost the guitar solo department of the album, I´m not sure I´m too happy about the fact that the band stick so much to their guns. I respect the band for not changing too much but on the other hand I´ve never been a hardcore fan of their music, so I could have done with a little change. For fans of the band this album is of course a sure purchase and for newcommers this might be a great introduction too. Overall it´s a well produced, well written and well played thrash metal album and a 3.5 star rating is fully deserved.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #216491

Stephen

After parting ways with Skolnick and Christian in the early 90s, the classic line up is finally reunited again, only this time, Clemente wasn't joining the party as he's too busy concentrating on his business and his place was replaced by Paul Bostaph. "The Formation of Damnation" quenched the thirst for Testament's new album after an exhausting nine-years of waiting. The result is excessively successful as the album was praised high by many fans and won "Best Album" award at Metal Hammer's Golden Gods Awards ceremony in the midst of 2008.

Throughout eleven tracks presented here, Testament brought out their primal vintage sound but not outdated and dusty. They created a bunch of intense neckwrecking and headbanging tunes, a tight and unaging performance, just like the old days when they first did this in 1987. Check out the first three tracks, a truly monumental entrance with a classic Bay Area strike. The dark chants and Skolnick/Peterson pulse pounding guitar duel in "More Than Meets The Eye" definitely added a flavor to the song. The 9/11 story based midtempo thrash of "The Evil Has Landed" is a pleasing package and Billy's demonic growly vocal supporting the progressive tempo of the title-track is ferociously fascinating.

This album is of course not a 100% flawless attempt, there are some patchy moments but forgivable, such as "Dangers of The Faithless" and the unnecessary bluesy approach of "Leave Me Forever". Or "Killing Season", for instance, lack the strength found in the other killer tracks but alone not a bad one. "Hencemen Ride" and "F.E.A.R" are my other favorites as well, a thrusted speed with the splendid old-school rhythm and lethal solos. "The Formation of Damnation" is a victorious comeback of the San Fransisco thrash legend and I sincerely hope that this is only the beginning for many great releases in the years to come.