TESTAMENT — The Formation Of Damnation (review)

TESTAMENT — The Formation Of Damnation album cover Album · 2008 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
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.
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