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.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Sunmancer - Realms of Dilemma (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
Sunmancer - Lower Cavalier (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed