TESTAMENT — The Gathering (review)

TESTAMENT — The Gathering album cover Album · 1999 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"The Gathering" is the eighth full-length studio album by US, California based thrash metal act Testament. The album was released through Spitfire/ Burnt Offerings in June 1999. It´s the successor to "Demonic" from 1997. "The Gathering" features an all-star lineup, which in addition to the usual suspects in lead vocalist Chuck Billy and guitarist Eric Peterson, also contains James Murphy who returns on guitar, Steve DiGiorgio on bass, and Dave Lombardo on drums. Each of them prolific and skilled musicians associated with artists like Grip Inc., Death, Slayer, Sadus, and Obituary.

The music on "The Gathering" is powerful and technically well performed thrash metal. Testament brought with them the good powerful elements from "Demonic", which means the raw power and drive of that album, and then added a more melodic touch, which points back to their sound of the 80s ("True Believer" could for example well have been featured on one of the late 80s/early 90 releases by the band). The slightly more melodic touch and the fact that Billy also delivers a more diverse vocal performance (although at times still pretty brutal and raw) give the songs a more memorable sound than the tracks on "Demonic". The addition of Dave Lombardo on the drums especially provides the music with a great organic touch. He is on fire on this album. The songs are generally high quality thrash metal compositions and "The Gathering" is overall a good quality Testament album (they´ve released both better and worse).

The album features a sound production which is powerful, raw, and heavy, and it suits the music perfectly. It´s courtesy of Andy Sneap, who would return to produce quite a few of Testament´s subsequent releases. Upon conclusion "The Gathering" was the right album to release after "Demonic" alienated some fans with it´s relentless aggression and brutality. Coming from a death metal background I never felt "Demonic" more than leaned towards death metal, and to my ears it´s still a Testament thrash metal album, just a little heavier and darker than their usual style. "Demonic" however lacked a couple of other things to make it a complete release. What I missed on "Demonic" was guitar solos and the more melodic and memorable moments of earlier Testament albums, and although there aren´t that many guitar solos on "The Gathering" either, the melodic element is more prevalent here than it was on "Demonic". So on "The Gathering" the brutality and heavy riffs are just more well balanced with the tried and true Testament elements. A 3.5 (70%) rating is deserved.
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