Testament
The Formation Of Damnation

THE GREAT CHIEF IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!

Nine years after the devastating "The Gathering" and after an endless amount of compilations, live albums, and official bootlegs that did nothing but prove that the band was back, after years of vicissitudes and a lineup that was anything but stable, and albums (especially "The Ritual" and "Demonic") that were not particularly memorable, but most importantly, after the full recovery of the great chief Chuck Billy, in top form and ready to take on the new metallic decade ahead. And with a lineup 4/5 returned to the one of the '80s, instead of the original drummer Lou Clemonte, we find Paul Bostaph, who had already collaborated with the band on the EP "Return To Apocalyptic City" and in some concerts between 2004 and 2006.

A fundamental characteristic of the album is its variety, starting off with a bang with "For The Glory Of" an instrumental intro that couldn't better open this work, continuing with "More Than Meets The Eye" and "The Evil Has Landed", two explosive tracks with riffing and solos that haven't been heard in Chuck Billy and co.'s work for a long time, aided by an Eric Peterson and an Alex Skolnick in dazzling form, which takes us directly back to works like "The New Order" or "Practice What You Preach". Especially Skolnick goes above and beyond with solos that calling stunning is an understatement, elevating the overall level of the album to heights it would hardly reach with another axeman, with all due respect to the great James Murphy present on the previous one. "The Evil Has Landed" is another great piece, the voice sounds a bit filtered and the sound is a killer punch, at some points it touches death, let's say this song would have fit well on an album like "Low", with a central solo that only confirms what was said about Skolnick. Also magnificent is "F.E.A.R." (honestly, I don't know if it's inspired by the video game of the same name) characterized by accelerations and slowdowns that live will leave no prisoners, also remarkable is "Leave Me Forever" with that bass intro that cannot but bring to mind the beautiful "Souls Of Black", certainly the most melodic song of the batch. Unlike "Dangers Of The Faithless", which turns out to be the heaviest and fastest with which Testament seem to want to vent years of frustrations and personal and musical problems, the healthy dose of violence continues with the title track "The Formation Of Damnation" a damn killer track that ranges from Mr. Billy's growl voice to a pair of axes that seem to take no prisoners. Also very special is "Killing Season", an almost Sabbathian boulder in which Alex and Eric seem to play Tony Iommi riffs with the metronome set at 200 Km per hour!!!!!!!!!!!

The Testament have made a grand return with an album that is poised to be among the best of 2008, but above all, they have returned to being the most devastating, technical, and magnificent band of the bay area that ever was!!!!!

THANK YOU CHUCK. ERIC, ALEX, GREG, AND PAUL!!!!!!