Metal Reviews

ok, I just downloaded the Testament discography. What should I start listening to?

You should post this in the thrash/death//black forum. Then listen to The Gathering and some of the older stuff.

oops. sorry. i'll post it right next time...

The Gathering first, kickass. The Ritual for slower stuff. Old stuff for decent Thrash, Demonic for kinda rubbish death/thrash.

The Gathering is one of the best albums ever made.

Even though The Gathering is their best album (and one of the best albums of the last ten years), I think Low is probably the best album to start with. It has a nice mix of pretty much everything in Testament's discography (both before and after its release), and is thus a nice sum of what Testament's done over the course of their career.

Otherwise, listen to their 80s albums if you want some classic "Metallica Meets Slayer"-style thrash, listen to Souls Of Black if you want a rather boring thrash album, listen to The Ritual if you want an awesome (if slightly commercial sounding) rock/metal album, listen to Demonic if you want an interesting thrash/death/grind mix, and listen to First Strike Still Deadly if you want a dull heavy metal karaoke album.

The Legacy and Practice What You Preach are mandatory Testament releases.

+1

What the...?

Um...listen to all of it start to finish. Then buy the albums. I'd listen in order of release, listening to Low or The Gathering first isn't going to show you the progression, then you'll find The Legacy and the early albums to sound like shit, probably. Follow the progression of the band.

The Legacy
The New Order
Practice What You Preach
Souls of Black
The Ritual
Low
Demonic
The Gathering
First Strike Still Deadly *

* to show you how badass those old songs really are.

The older thrashy albums. In particular. The New Order is a Masterpiece
They eventually got involved into donwtuning and death metal and almost became a completely different band trying to adapt to the changing musical environmnet. I can only handle the first few albums. I dont even mind the ballad side of them, but to me the death metal/downtuned side of them is simply run of the mill music.

That's...wrong...and apparently you can't have a wrong opinion. The Legace=y and The New Order are the best, with PWYP next and THEN the later shit.

Wait a second...DECENT thrash? wtf? AWESOME thrash!

Actually, I like their Death Metal style. Chuck Billy's death voice, especially on The Gathering, has to be one of the most evil-sounding growls ever.

Are you talking about Demonic? I'm not sure what musical environment they were trying to adapt to on that one, I just think they tried something a little different. That album has "Hatreds Rise," though, and that song is a fucking killer!!

I don't mind the downtuned sound, it's far better than the bass-starved sound of their early albums. Plus, downtuning really isn't an issue if the band still plays in the same manner. Does Low or The Gathering sound like they're playing bar chords and shit? Nope. Also, are you saying you prefer the original sound over the sound on First Strike Still Deadly? Man, if their early albums had that sound...holy SHIT!!

I think their one hiccup was Demonic, simply because the songs weren't that good, not because they sort of went death metal. It's just not a great album.

you should send 100 bucks to Chuck Billy and company along with an apology for stealing his music.........

Never a huge Testament fan but they were good at what they did.

I agree that Hatreds Rise is one of the best Testament songs ever. I also agree that Demonic was at least a nice experiment. The band tried their hand at a darker and heavier sound, and while may be it didn't work as well as they would've liked, you still have to give them an A for effort.

Anyway, I don't really understand why metal fans have a problem with "downtuning" anyway. The Ritual used mostly Eb tuning. Both Low and The Gathering used C# tuning and D tuning for most of their songs. Slayer has been using downtuning already since Haunting The Chapel. Iced Earth uses Eb tuning for the majority of their songs. And so on and so forth.

Personally, I like downtuning. It gives the music a more moody/organic sound (assuming it's done correctly).

I agree. Demonic just doesn't stand out. Aside from Hatreds Rise and John Doe, I can never remember anything from the album after it's done playing. It all just kind of runs together. It's not bad in anyway, it 's just kind of there.

Personally, I like downtuning. It gives the music a more moody/organic sound (assuming it's done correctly).[/quote]

yeah, You are probably correct. I probably like alot of D tuning I just did not that is what it was. I have a friend who plays everyhing in a "groovy" drop D sort of way and too me it just gets old. I just prefer the "brightness' that duel power metal guitaring gives you. Makes the bends and speed that much more special or "melodic" if you will. A good example is say... I much prefer the sound of Edguys - Theater of salvation versus say Far Beyond Driven-by Pantera ( no disrespect to Dime (who was an elite Guitar player no doubt). I know there is a major difference, of course it is simply an opinion and i can understand where many like the "groovy", "deeper" "lower/heavier" sounds it just happens to not be me.

I totally agree with Demonic- it sounds almost like one long song, but so do alot of "death metal" albums that tend to never mellow out at some point or use interludes.etc.. :(

Start by deleting it from your computer.

No way. The first few testament's are essential thrash!