Testament - The Formation Of Damnation

\r\nHow years go by, it is a wonder... It seems like yesterday when I lost my mind listening for the first time Testament’s new for that time release, The Gathering. Excitement was great and the cd stayed in the cd player for a really long time. 9 years later Testament come back with an album that will be the center of discussions. The Formation Of Damnation is the title of their new task and in it we see once again the original line-up of the band with Alex Skolnick on the guitars, something that personally really pleased me. Having said this, Testament don’t need any introduction so it would be better to talk about the album right away. After the first hearing, what was I left with was the impression that a many tones heavy trunk has run me over. Maybe it was the excellent production, maybe the amazing and really aggressive compositions, maybe the unique Chuck Billy’s vocals, or maybe it was all of these. No matter the case, since the first hearing was so positive I could easily guess what would happen after a few more concentrated hearings. And my guessing was correct. Formation Of Damnation is an album that can equally be compared to the masterpieces of the past with no doubt. I am not one of those favouring the band’s first years, when their thrash mentality was more obvious and things were a bit looser. On any time of their career, I really liked Testament as they reveal a new secret beauty every single time. Being more than pleased by their new release was the only case. In this album we listen to 11 classic Testament compositions containing all the elements we have loved. Crushing sound, trascending production, fast and mid tempo compositions (always with a touch of melody), vocals that simply destroy everything around, incredible riffs almost impossible to forget and many really well-played solos where they are suposed to be with no exagerations and showing-off. It would be unfair not to mention the unique drumming as this is a special feature of the group and makes the songs even more addictive and interesting and if we keep in mind that responsible for all these is the notorious Paul Bostaph, then things get even better. The sound and the mentality of the band show that Testament tried to combine the good old characteristic elements that made them differ with more modern features that adapted later and off course their recipy was a success. Often the sound reminded me of Exodus’ Shovel Headed Kill Machine but Testament always had a personal style that makes them distinguish from far far away. Talk is cheap so I would like to put a closure to this review. Those who care will have already get this album. The rest would better listen to Formation Of Damnation only because the monstrous band named Testament is here to offer us again moments of excitement and plenty of energy. Run to buy it! \r\n

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\r\nVassilis Mazaris \r\n

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\r\nTranslation: Barbara Karpodini \r\n

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