Testament - The Formation of Damnation (2008)

After Chuck Billy was finished kicking the fucking shit out of germ cell seminoma’s ass (a type of cancer), both he and the original line-up (minus Louie) of Testament resurfaced in 2008 with their ninth studio album titled, ‘The Formation of Damnation.’ Formation is also the first Testament record since 1999’s, The Gathering,’ which was nine long years ago when this recording emerged in April of 2008.

Having a sound that’s part classic 80’s bay area Testament thrash metal and late 90’s death-esque metal Testament, The Formation of Damnation has proven to be one killer album and a great comeback effort for this long running band. Of course when it comes to these sorts of things the response is always split. It seems some will tell you this is the best thing Testament has done since the 80’s while other will just say it’s a smoldering pile of donkey crap devoid of character or anything even slightly redeemable. Honestly for me Testament was one of those bands that accidentally skipped past me back in the early half of the 90’s when I was first getting into this whole metal thing. So I’m not nearly as critical about the relevance of this album.

I tell you what I hear. A quality modern thrash metal recording with a superb production job, powerful and sometimes groovy riffs, exceptional solos, fast and precise drumming and great lead vocals from Mr. Billy who uses mostly a cleanly sung voice but also a few guttural roars too. Songs like ‘More Than Meets the Eye,’ ‘Killing Season’ and ‘F.E.A.R.’ are great head banging fist pumping thrash metal anthems that leave me satisfied and completely blown away this release.

If you’re a long time Testament fan I can’t see any reason to complain or if you’re like me and you missed Testament when you were a kid then now is as good as any time to turn back the past and discover a great metal band.