I know the general consensus on Demonic. But... Look at where the big 4 were in 1997. Metallica shat out Reload, Megadeth had put out Cryptic Writings, Anthrax was smack in the middle of their "diet Pantera" phase, and Slayer decided to be a punk cover band for one album. Then we have Testament, who looked around and said "fuck all that... Let's just get HEAVY". In an era where many other thrash bands were going for a mainstream sound they went ahead and put out an *almost* death metal release when that genre was in a bit if a slump, commercially. I've got to respect them for that. I mean... It didn't work. But still. 😂
Great list, I keep going back to Testament over and over again they are such a consistent band. Maybe just one sliver below Slayer for consistency? But that sliver they make up for with some amazing creativity that I think makes for some better songs. I might have liked to see your take on First Strike Still Deadly.. yep it's a re-recording and normally I would skip it too but it helps catalogue the change in the band over the years Chuck's voice, the production etc.
The Legacy is absolutely brilliant! Saw them here in Germany on their first Tour, together with Anthrax back in 1987!!! Just love them! Greetings from Stuttgart, Germany!
Great video! I'm beginning to think that Testament is what Metallica would sound like if they didn't sell out and stayed metal. Both bands also have interesting parallels: Chuck Billy and James Hetfield have similar singing styles, Alex and Kirk were both taught by Joe Satriani (but Alex progressed while Kirk regressed,) Eric is as much a master riff writer as James and both can play leads sometimes, Steve and Cliff are iconic bass players (not really sure about previous bassists in Testament,) and Testament has always had amazing drummers (Louie Clemente, Dave Lombardo, Paul Bostaph, Gene Hoglan. I'd say Lars was once good, but like Kirk, he also greatly regressed at his craft.)
I decided to take the plunge into this band with “Dark Roots” right after this video. This makes me like Metallica’s “Hardwired” even less now, as there’s a lot on here that Metallica seemed to rip for their album. Pretty fantastic and underrated band.
To be honest I had lost interest in Testament after their first three records. But I still remember my mother banging on my door after the first few seconds of "Over The Wall". :) I'm listening to "The Formation of Damanation" at the moment - wow, what a great record. Now I'm thrilled on the outlook of discovering more great records by the band. Thanks!
Testament is one of my all time favorite thrash metal bands and they are super consistent. Here would be my scores of each album: - The Legacy: 9/10 - The New Order: 9.5/10 - Practice What You Preach: 9/10 - Souls of Black: 10/10 - The Ritual: 8.5/10 - Low: 8/10 - Demonic: 7.5/10 - The Gathering: 8.5/10 - The Formation of Damnation: 9/10 - Dark Roots of Earth: 9.5/10 - Brotherhood of the Snake: 9.5/10 - Titans of Creation: 9.5/10
Gene Hoglan, Dave Lombardo and Paul Bostaph... not only do they have a killer microwave, but they have a revolving door of the best drummers in the world... My favorite albums as a side note: #1 Formation Of Damnation #2 New Order #3 The Legacy
Great delivery of the testament album’s. I’ve been a fan of these guys since ‘The New Order’. The New order is the best album they have. Metallica’s Master of puppets, Megadeth’s Rust n peace & Slayer’s Seasons in the abyss are the best trash albums of all time. From 🇦🇺🤘
Testament: still getting the job done after all these years! Practice What You Preach is one of my all time favourite tracks and there is no better guitar solo in any thrash song. I appreciate your rankings.
If you think about it. Testament's The Gathering along side Sodom's Code Red and Destruction's All Hell Breaks Loose laid the ground work for thrash to see a revival in the mid 2000's. holy hell The Gathering is awesome.
Testament is just so underrated. Just an unbelievably consistent band with an absolutely killer discography. Not to mention all of the talent in their lineups throughout the years. I just started really listening to them and they’re already one of my favorites.
Only recently sat down and listened to a nice little chunk of they're discography loving them so far always new them but after listening to strapping young lads discography I realised hey gene hogan's one of my favorite drummers and I have only listened to like 10 testament songs can't wait to listen to more of them they're amazing
My ranking for the Testament albums would be🤘 12. Low 1994 11. Demonic 1997 10. The Ritual 1992 9. Brotherhood Of The Snake 2016 8. Souls Of Black 1990 7. Dark Roots Of Earth 2012 6. Titans Of Creation 2020 5. The Gathering 1999 4. The Formation Of Damnation 2008 3. The Legacy 1987 2. The New Order 1988 1. Practice What You Preach 1989
Testament has the most solid discography of all the original thrash pioneers. I have to put "Practice What You Preach " at the very top. The New Order at number #2. Brotherhood of the Snake is absolutely killer and is definitely number #3 for me.
Huge Megadeth and Metallica fan and well aware of the Big 4 and Exodus and Overkill but somehow had missed on out on Testament until about fours years ago. At first, I was like damn these guys sound like the Big 4 in a blender and this singer can be Joey, James, and Dave whenever he feels like it and I felt initially like they were maybe copping those bands' style to some extent (but maybe it was the other way around) as I kept listening and found that their discography just does not quit and though the Big 4's best days in my opinion were decades ago these guys still have the goods 🤘(as does Exodus with that latest album).
Testament are one of the most consistent bands around. I'm a big fan of Alex Skolnick's guitar playing and Chuck Billy is one of the best and most versatile singers in thrash imo. I also dig James Murphy's work with the band. So many great musicians have been in the band over the years. The New Order is my favorite Testament album. Testament's most recent album Titans Of Creation is great and I can't wait to see what the band does next.
Let's revive an old video! Got into Testament via Souls of Black. Got Practice What You Preach and saw them open for Iron Maiden at Irvine Meadows while on tour for The Ritual. Waiting for Amazon to deliver a 5-pack of their first 5 CDs right now, in fact. Never listened/owned The Legacy or The New Order, so looking forward to that. Agree with your assessments of PWYP and SOB, but The Ritual and Low rank much higher in my book. The Ritual is a great metal album, with harmonies in the guitars and the vocals ("Deadline" being a personal standout after seeing them do it live), and Low, to me, is a great bridge into their later material. Thank you for having me avoid Demonic. Props for that, I owe you dinner and/or drinks for y'all whenever you find yourselves in the High Desert.
Amazing band. And their "Demonic" album is my favorite. Brutal,heavy as fuck and Chuck's growling is amazing. The only moment in their carrer when they sounded like a fucking,ass-ripping death metal band! And I could never understand why so many Testament fans hate this album. Is it too heavy for them,or what??????
Love Testament but I actually haven’t heard The Formation of Damnation, Brotherhood of the Snake or Titans of Creation yet. Dark Roots of Earth came out right around the time I discovered these guys in high school so I got that when it came out. Blasting The Formation right now! Low was the first Testament album I ever heard so I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for it. Dog Faced Gods was definitely one of the heaviest songs I had heard at that point and the insane guitar work from James Murphy really blew me away too. That said, my favourites now are the first 2. Really no terrible albums in the whole batch but I agree Demonic is the bottom of the barrel. Great video as always, and thanks for prompting me to get my shit together and listen to more of the recent albums, gonna be checking all of them out over the next few days. Cheers! 🤘🤘
I'm an old school thrasher, as much as I love the newer albums,(Brotherhood of the Snake is my favorite newer album)! Practice What You Preach is and always will be my favorite! But like you said all are good except Demonic, I agree with you on that!!
The Legacy and New Order were two very important keg party albums of my teen years back in the glorious 80's. I love Testament for that reason. But, being a fan since the early days I have seen them live many times between 1988 and just the other night (in Houston) and I swear they get absolutely DESTROYED by Exodus opening up for them every single time I have seen them!!..I can understand if someone prefers Testament albums over Exodus albums but my God, Exodus always makes them look like feeble old men (even in the 80's when they were young). ..I don't know why Testament keeps allowing Exodus to open up for them. But despite the fact that Alex Skolnick likes to dabble in douchebaggery from time to time and they keep allowing Exodus to crush them live, The Legacy and New Order means the world to me.
Damn! I just missed them here in Austin! Have loved them since the 80's roaming around Long Beach with my walkman cranking out Practice What You Preach.
Testament rules!! One of the few who got HEAVIER instead of softer in that aweful grunge and nu-metal era we have all somehow erased from our memories, where even Slayer got a bit gnarly. Hahaha regarding "The Ritual" : "I don't know..." you hit the nail on the head right there... I would say "Souls of Black" and "The Ritual" are the closest you would come to Testament sort of "selling out" (take that loosely in context). Much of the reasons for them mellowing out was because Alex Skolnick was having a ego "I'm a jazzy fucking professional guitarist too good for thrash" phase (that he has since grown TOTALLY away from, so no dissing Alex!), something which ultimately caused him to leave Testament after "The Ritual" to pursue his Super-Guitarist solo career for a bit of a spell. No worries, he needed to do that, and Testament with him back in the fold is much better for it today! Alex finally realized that thrash metal IS the perfect platform for Super-Guitarist wankery, because there are no rules but to SLAY!
My ratings: The Legacy: 4/5 The New Order: 5/5 Practice What You Preach: 2.5/5 Souls of Black: 4/5 The Ritual: 3.5/5 Low: 4/5 Demonic: 2/5 The Gathering: 5/5 The Formation of Damnation: 4.5/5 Dark Roots of Earth: 3/5 Brotherhood Of The Snake: 3.5/5 Titans of Creation: 4/5
I love thrash metal, and some of my favorites outside of the big four are Exodus, Sepultura, Overkill, Sodom, Kreator, Annihalator, Holy Moses, voivod, vektor and nuclear assault, but for some reason I just haven’t ever listen to Testament. I know a few songs, but only really from auto play on Apple Music. I really need to seek them out because I love what I’ve heard
Me too. Don't really understand the hate it gets other than yes, its Testament doing a really good mid tempo death metal album. So yes, it's not thrash. But it's still damn good.
My rank would be this: 12 - Demonic 11 - Low 10 - The Ritual 9 - The Legacy 8 - Formation of Damnation 7 - The Gathering 6 - Souls of Black 5 - Practice What You Preach 4 - Dark Roots of Earth 3 - Titans of Creation 2 - The New Order 1 - Brotherhood of The Snake
Honestly it is really hard to name a favorite, but if I had to choose it would either be The New Order or Brotherhood (title track of that one is probably my favorite song right now)
Great video sir! Was wondering if you’d ever be down to do a “hot take” video, not sure if you’ve ever done that kind of video before. Reviewing peoples hot takes on metal or just bands in general. Could be fun? Just a suggestion, keep up the great work ! 🤘🤘
A good friend of mine told me this story last night as we were chillen. He and his girl bought tickets from this guy on Ticket master and when they got to their concert the Guard at the door said these tickets were fake. My friend tried to call the guy, but he realized he was scammed. Right when he felt the world screwed him over the guard at the door let he and his girl in and they got to see one of his favorite bands.
Oooooh i got another album series for you to review that i think youd like and maybe find challenging. reviewing every Overkill album. God i love Overkill as much as Testament. Thank you for this one
I kind of agree about the Brotherhood of the Snake. It feels like blasphemy to rank it higher than The New Order, The Legacy etc but I love that album. I got introduced to Testament with my older brother bringing home "latest album" The Ritual back in the 90ties when I was just a kid. So Electric Crown holds a special place in my heart but still The Pale King makes me go ape shit on a level only Nightmare (coming back to you) from Practice did before (I know random track but I fuckin' love it).
I'm a huge death metal fan, but I also love Testament. Yes, Demonic is a bad album, but for me it's fun to listen to for obvious reasons. The Burning Times was the best song. Bad album, but one of my favorites from Testament.
It's amazing how consistent this band is so late in the game. Testament is definitely a thrash band that I could listen to all day. They were also my last band that I went and saw before the world came crashing down! I was at the London show for the Bay Strikes Back tour, and every band on the bill absolutely fucking destroyed. They all got Covid maybe a week or two after that show I think? So not good in that regard 🤣 Testament were on fire and you can really tell by seeing them live and from the studio output they've had since returning that they are just on a constant high, and are without a doubt the most consistent of the classic thrash bands, rivalled only maybe by Overkill, the difference between the 2 being that while Overkill has been releasing very solid stuff recently I wouldn't consider any of it top shelf or classic (with the exception of maybe Ironbound), I honestly think that albums like Dark Roots, Brotherhood and Titans of Creation really do hold up as potential Testament classics. The amount of talent in the band is also disgustingly unfair! Gutted that Gene is gone as he has been a massive influence on my own drumming style since I've discovered extreme metal, but I'm glad that I got to see him with them and I'm also very much looking forward to seeing Dave Lombardo in action for the first time later this year at Bloodstock!
Discovered Testament around the same time you did, with the same album. So I also have an attachment with DROE. It's hard to pick a favourite, but I have this strange attachment with The Gathering for some reason. It just seems to be the album I return to the most. I love how tight and well-performed it is. The dark atmosphere on songs like Eyes of Wrath, 3 Days in Darkness and Riding the Snake is really captivating, while the raging thrashers like D.N.R. and The Legions of the Dead (one of the best thrash metal songs of all time, IMO) balance the album perfectly, making it consistently replayable. Otherwise The New Order is also one I think is probably their best and most re-listenable, along with The Legacy.
I live in Dallas and missed that show but I just got back from a crazy weekend in New Orleans catching these guys at the House of Blues. We did the VIP meet and greet thing and during the Q&A part had a nice chat about Demonic. I asked why it seems I'm the only one that likes Demonic. And the guys got defensive and then explained where they were at during the time of that recording. It makes sense in the grand scheme of things and Chuck Billy had a good laugh when I said that album was my gateway to death metal. I dig Demonic even if everyone on the RUclipsverse shits on it. The Burning Times is one of my favorite Testament tracks of all time.
"The Formation of Damnation" was for me what "Dark Roots of Earth" was for you. But as a long time Testament fan, if have to disagree with you on the rating for The Legacy. It is the best Testament record in my opinion. It has a great youthful energie, and chucks vocals on this record have a certain kind of charme, its hard to describe. Also just those riffs and amazing Solos! The New Order is great, but has some fillers on it, The Legacy certainly does not. Yes, the production is not the best for 80s standards, and that is a matter of taste I guess. Personally I prefer 80s production over almost all the modern stuff when it comes to thrash (even though im born in 1992).
The Legacy sounds amazing all things considered. Great album top to bottom mayne!! 9/10 The New Order is impressive everytime i go back to it. Fucking love it. 9.5/10 Practice What You Preach is one that never jived with me. It has all the ingredients but the vocal melodies and hooks lose me on this. I do love the bass sound and the instrumentation in general though so 7/10 Souls of Black is back to form with some intensity. I love it. I like the darker tone. 8.5/10 The Ritual....dudes wtf happened? It sounds like radio hit style songs for some reason. Ive come back to it 3x and not really liked it. There's always some cool stuff throughout but as a whole aint amazing 5 or 6/10 Low is badass! Lol i love how heavy and driving this is. Great songs from start to end but nothing iconic or particularly epic 8/10 Demonic, a fine album for what it is. I dont prefer this sound for them at all, but they do it well. I say 7/10 The Gathering reminds me of Low a lot. I love this as well. 8/10 Formation of Damnation, whoa now we've settled in and really found the new SOUND. Ritual - The Gathering seemed like an identity crisis to some extent. But this album feels natural and feels VERY TESTAMENT. Not flawless, but the sound is there. 8.5/10 Dark Roots of the Earth a great continuation of what Formation laid down. Love the Maiden cover. 8.5/10 Brotherhood of the Snake is fucking great. After finding their sound, i think they found their groove song writing wise. Love it. 9/10 Titans of Creation, works best as a full listen through and not singles. Great album, but not quite as bangable as Brotherhood. They still got their sound down pat though. 8/10
I'm sorry, but if Dog Face Gods doesn't get you moving, do you even metal? I understand why some dislike "Demonic" because of the vocals, and more Death sound, but "LOW" is a killer album full of straight up bangers. I'd take that album over Practice What You Preach ANY DAY.
Testament is one of my all time favorite bands. The New Order is the best thrash album ever made in my opinion. The first time I heard it, it completely blew my mind. I totally understand your take on souls of black, but the songs are sooooo goooood for me. Here's my personal ranking. 1. The New Order - 5/5 2. The Gathering - 4.75/5 3. The Legacy - 4.5/5 4. The Formation Of Damnation - 4.5/5 5. Titans Of Creation - 4.25/5 6. Brotherhood Of The Snake - 4/5 7. Souls Of Black - 4/5 8. Practice What You Preach - 3.75/5 9. Low - 3.5/5 10. Dark Roots Of The Earth - 3.5/5 11. The Ritual - 3/5 12. Demonic - 3/5
Testament truly does not have a bad album but for the sake of ratings Demonic is definitely their worst album. My personal favorite is the Gathering and Trail by Fire is my favorite song of theirs. I remember seeing the video on like a MTV 2 headbangers ball marathon or something and just being like wtf am I hearing!?!? 🤘
Fuck yeah! I've always said the big 4 for me is Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and TESTAMENT. Anthrax never did a damn thing for me where Testament has been kicking total ass this whole time. Also my favorite albums are The Gathering and Brotherhood of the snake 🤘
@@YONATOOTH Honestly,if I would rate Big 4 on quality,longevity and impact,I would honestly replace Slayer with Testament rather than Anthrax That's definitely a controversial opinion,but for me Slayer became really formulaic after Seasons In The Abyss and never quite reached those heights,while Anthrax released their two latest albums,which are one of the best albums ever
I agree with Low being one of the weakest but I love the solo on So Many Lies. Somehow I missed the last release....gonna to go listen to that right fuking now 🤘
I haven't listened to FULL ALBUMS by Testament, only a song here and there. Never really got too much into them. I DID see them at Heavy T.O. back in 2011 when I was a teenager! Off-topic, but it was nice to meet you at Brickworks with my dad and brother last night! Sorry for being flustered there; I was trying to calm down from an episode I had outside with people's dogs (yeah... I have cynophobia and bark-induced misophonia). Half a year ago, I made a rant video against your Sleep Token review where I went SUPER DUPER HARD on ya hahaha! Like, I was PISSED OFF at ya that day. 😬🤣 Here it is, dude (It's pretty intense, both me and the comments): ruclips.net/video/MVg1oCGnfXo/видео.html
LOW is clutch, they were getting into deathier stuff. James Murphy rips all over it. I get it tho if you weren't alive then. Demonic does stink tho, they lost me there. Lost interest but I'll scope Brotherhood of the snake
*Warning: EXTREMELY LONG FUCKING COMMENT* Hello again Meltdown sorry I have not been able to see the last couple of vids and not be in the comment sections for the last couple vids. Have had a 4-5 day vacation going to Arizona to play in a golf/Poker tournament for 3 days. Come back yesterday morning to get ready to See Rotting Christ/Borknagar, while getting really fucking drunk. There is now an 11th Commandment in the Bible I made “Go see Rotting Christ or else Christ ain’t gonna be the only thing that is gonna rot” Both bands were epic. I have a really shitty hangover now but with how much fun I had with my Dad/Friends it was so worth it. But yeah Internet coverage on the road and in our hotels were so beyond limited or we had no service at all. So I’ll give my thoughts on the past couple albums/Eps you’ve reviewed. Undeath is being Undeath. OSDM worship throughout. So I can completely understand why people love, good for those people. I have never been able to get myself to like these guys. It’s not bad but I feel like there is better bands out there that can give you the same type of OSDM worship experience. 2/5 Kirk………my man I am very sorry that I doubted you. Because WOW this album was such a fun and interesting ride. I love that he shows his love for Symphonic Metal, Prog Rock/Metal and of course the Type of thrash you would expect from Metallica/Exodus. This album kinda gets to show a gripe that I have had with Metallica for quite awhile. As much as James Hetfield is one of my favorite musical Idols and as Much as I respect Lars, I always just wish they would get Kirk, Rob more involved in the songwriting process because this album proved that Kirk has some very interesting and creative ideas that he can contribute. This is definitely Better than a majority of albums Metallica have released for the last 20-30 years. Well done Kirk 4/5. Ok now that’s out of the Way. Testament are one of my favorite Thrash bands and one of my favorite metal bands in general. Same with Sodom, Holy Moses, Mekong Delta, Razor, Voivod, Megadeth. Chuck Billy is my favorite Thrash vocalist of all time. Eric Peterson/Alex Skolnick is one of my favorite Guitar Duos of all time up there with Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman imo. They have a pretty consistent Discog so this is a much harder ranking than I expected. S: Souls of Black, Brotherhood of the Snake, The New Order, Dark Roots of Earth A: The Gathering, Practice What you Preach,The Legacy B: Formation of Damnation, First Strike Still Deadly, Titans of Creation C: Low D: The Ritual F: Demonic
imo Testament were good but never great. Even the stuff like Legacy and TNO to me aren’t anything that I’d compare to MOP or RIB or Peace Sells or Terrible Certainty as far as 80s thrash goes. They are one of the better Bay Area bands though. Better than Exodus at least lmao.
1 The Legacy 2 The New Order 3 The Gathering 4 Dark Roots Of Earth 5 Low 6 Brotherhood Of The Snake 7 Practice What You Preach 8 Souls Of Black 9 Formation Of Damnation 10 The Ritual 11 Demonic 12 Titans Of Creation
Their last 3 albums have taken the Big 4 to school. Metallica hasn't touched this level of quality in thirty years. Megadeth has come closer but is mired in conspiracy theory bullshit and the worst vocals in the genre. Testament stands head and shoulders above the old-school thrash bands.
Indeed, Electric Crown is a bona fide, certified BANGER. One of Skolnick’s greatest moments
I know the general consensus on Demonic. But...
Look at where the big 4 were in 1997.
Metallica shat out Reload, Megadeth had put out Cryptic Writings, Anthrax was smack in the middle of their "diet Pantera" phase, and Slayer decided to be a punk cover band for one album. Then we have Testament, who looked around and said "fuck all that... Let's just get HEAVY". In an era where many other thrash bands were going for a mainstream sound they went ahead and put out an *almost* death metal release when that genre was in a bit if a slump, commercially. I've got to respect them for that. I mean... It didn't work. But still. 😂
cryptic writings is pretty good tbf
Testament is truly the best 80s Thrash band. Theyve managed to stay around and make great music since the 80s. Fantastic video.
S tier thrash band for sure.
Great list, I keep going back to Testament over and over again they are such a consistent band. Maybe just one sliver below Slayer for consistency? But that sliver they make up for with some amazing creativity that I think makes for some better songs. I might have liked to see your take on First Strike Still Deadly.. yep it's a re-recording and normally I would skip it too but it helps catalogue the change in the band over the years Chuck's voice, the production etc.
I dont think its all that great personally, all the original versions are better in my opinion.
The Legacy is absolutely brilliant!
Saw them here in Germany on their first Tour, together with Anthrax back in 1987!!!
Just love them!
Greetings from Stuttgart, Germany!
Amazing band, such a killer discography. The Gathering has to be #1 for me!
i love how balanced the aggression and groove are in that album. Lombardo did a great job too
Can someone help me to find an album that can go on par with « the gathering » please?
Back when I got the album the Gathering was probably the heaviest album I owned. I love the consistency of this band.
Great video! I'm beginning to think that Testament is what Metallica would sound like if they didn't sell out and stayed metal. Both bands also have interesting parallels:
Chuck Billy and James Hetfield have similar singing styles, Alex and Kirk were both taught by Joe Satriani (but Alex progressed while Kirk regressed,) Eric is as much a master riff writer as James and both can play leads sometimes, Steve and Cliff are iconic bass players (not really sure about previous bassists in Testament,) and Testament has always had amazing drummers (Louie Clemente, Dave Lombardo, Paul Bostaph, Gene Hoglan. I'd say Lars was once good, but like Kirk, he also greatly regressed at his craft.)
I decided to take the plunge into this band with “Dark Roots” right after this video. This makes me like Metallica’s “Hardwired” even less now, as there’s a lot on here that Metallica seemed to rip for their album. Pretty fantastic and underrated band.
To be honest I had lost interest in Testament after their first three records. But I still remember my mother banging on my door after the first few seconds of "Over The Wall". :) I'm listening to "The Formation of Damanation" at the moment - wow, what a great record. Now I'm thrilled on the outlook of discovering more great records by the band. Thanks!
Welcome back bro 🤘🎸🎧
Testament is one of my all time favorite thrash metal bands and they are super consistent. Here would be my scores of each album:
- The Legacy: 9/10
- The New Order: 9.5/10
- Practice What You Preach: 9/10
- Souls of Black: 10/10
- The Ritual: 8.5/10
- Low: 8/10
- Demonic: 7.5/10
- The Gathering: 8.5/10
- The Formation of Damnation: 9/10
- Dark Roots of Earth: 9.5/10
- Brotherhood of the Snake: 9.5/10
- Titans of Creation: 9.5/10
Wow, souls of black a 10, l like that, for me it's one of their weekest so it's nice to know that many people apreciatte that album more than me
Gene Hoglan, Dave Lombardo and Paul Bostaph... not only do they have a killer microwave, but they have a revolving door of the best drummers in the world...
My favorite albums as a side note:
#1 Formation Of Damnation
#2 New Order
#3 The Legacy
Great delivery of the testament album’s. I’ve been a fan of these guys since ‘The New Order’. The New order is the best album they have. Metallica’s Master of puppets, Megadeth’s Rust n peace & Slayer’s Seasons in the abyss are the best trash albums of all time. From 🇦🇺🤘
One of the best and most consistent thrash bands out there 🤘
Testament: still getting the job done after all these years! Practice What You Preach is one of my all time favourite tracks and there is no better guitar solo in any thrash song. I appreciate your rankings.
If you think about it. Testament's The Gathering along side Sodom's Code Red and Destruction's All Hell Breaks Loose laid the ground work for thrash to see a revival in the mid 2000's. holy hell The Gathering is awesome.
Can someone help me to find an album that can go on par with « the gathering » please?
I would more say 2001 "M-16" for Sodom as it has more Thrash than the previous Code Red...
Testament is just so underrated. Just an unbelievably consistent band with an absolutely killer discography. Not to mention all of the talent in their lineups throughout the years. I just started really listening to them and they’re already one of my favorites.
Only recently sat down and listened to a nice little chunk of they're discography loving them so far always new them but after listening to strapping young lads discography I realised hey gene hogan's one of my favorite drummers and I have only listened to like 10 testament songs can't wait to listen to more of them they're amazing
My ranking for the Testament albums would be🤘
12. Low 1994
11. Demonic 1997
10. The Ritual 1992
9. Brotherhood Of The Snake 2016
8. Souls Of Black 1990
7. Dark Roots Of Earth 2012
6. Titans Of Creation 2020
5. The Gathering 1999
4. The Formation Of Damnation 2008
3. The Legacy 1987
2. The New Order 1988
1. Practice What You Preach 1989
Testament has the most solid discography of all the original thrash pioneers. I have to put "Practice What You Preach " at the very top. The New Order at number #2. Brotherhood of the Snake is absolutely killer and is definitely number #3 for me.
The most annoying thing about this video is that it reminds me that I don't own one single fucking Testament album on vinyl! I need to change that!
Ive got Dark Roots and Brotherhood but thats about it. Must have m o r e...
Huge Megadeth and Metallica fan and well aware of the Big 4 and Exodus and Overkill but somehow had missed on out on Testament until about fours years ago. At first, I was like damn these guys sound like the Big 4 in a blender and this singer can be Joey, James, and Dave whenever he feels like it and I felt initially like they were maybe copping those bands' style to some extent (but maybe it was the other way around) as I kept listening and found that their discography just does not quit and though the Big 4's best days in my opinion were decades ago these guys still have the goods 🤘(as does Exodus with that latest album).
Didn’t go pop like some bands I won’t mention
Testament are one of the most consistent bands around. I'm a big fan of Alex Skolnick's guitar playing and Chuck Billy is one of the best and most versatile singers in thrash imo. I also dig James Murphy's work with the band. So many great musicians have been in the band over the years. The New Order is my favorite Testament album. Testament's most recent album Titans Of Creation is great and I can't wait to see what the band does next.
Let's revive an old video!
Got into Testament via Souls of Black. Got Practice What You Preach and saw them open for Iron Maiden at Irvine Meadows while on tour for The Ritual. Waiting for Amazon to deliver a 5-pack of their first 5 CDs right now, in fact. Never listened/owned The Legacy or The New Order, so looking forward to that.
Agree with your assessments of PWYP and SOB, but The Ritual and Low rank much higher in my book. The Ritual is a great metal album, with harmonies in the guitars and the vocals ("Deadline" being a personal standout after seeing them do it live), and Low, to me, is a great bridge into their later material.
Thank you for having me avoid Demonic. Props for that, I owe you dinner and/or drinks for y'all whenever you find yourselves in the High Desert.
Amazing band. And their "Demonic" album is my favorite. Brutal,heavy as fuck and Chuck's growling is amazing. The only moment in their carrer when they sounded like a fucking,ass-ripping death metal band! And I could never understand why so many Testament fans hate this album. Is it too heavy for them,or what??????
I love It🤟
Love Testament but I actually haven’t heard The Formation of Damnation, Brotherhood of the Snake or Titans of Creation yet. Dark Roots of Earth came out right around the time I discovered these guys in high school so I got that when it came out. Blasting The Formation right now!
Low was the first Testament album I ever heard so I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for it. Dog Faced Gods was definitely one of the heaviest songs I had heard at that point and the insane guitar work from James Murphy really blew me away too. That said, my favourites now are the first 2. Really no terrible albums in the whole batch but I agree Demonic is the bottom of the barrel.
Great video as always, and thanks for prompting me to get my shit together and listen to more of the recent albums, gonna be checking all of them out over the next few days.
Cheers! 🤘🤘
I'm an old school thrasher, as much as I love the newer albums,(Brotherhood of the Snake is my favorite newer album)! Practice What You Preach is and always will be my favorite! But like you said all are good except Demonic, I agree with you on that!!
I've been meaning to check out Testament for a hot minute now, I'll have to start the dive soon
Killer video dude Testament has a solid discography!
The Legacy and New Order were two very important keg party albums of my teen years back in the glorious 80's. I love Testament for that reason. But, being a fan since the early days I have seen them live many times between 1988 and just the other night (in Houston) and I swear they get absolutely DESTROYED by Exodus opening up for them every single time I have seen them!!..I can understand if someone prefers Testament albums over Exodus albums but my God, Exodus always makes them look like feeble old men (even in the 80's when they were young). ..I don't know why Testament keeps allowing Exodus to open up for them. But despite the fact that Alex Skolnick likes to dabble in douchebaggery from time to time and they keep allowing Exodus to crush them live, The Legacy and New Order means the world to me.
Damn! I just missed them here in Austin! Have loved them since the 80's roaming around Long Beach with my walkman cranking out Practice What You Preach.
Wait! What were some bad things Alex has done? I've never heard him saying/doing controversial things in the rock news.
I Agree...Bostaph's work on Formation is absolutely S-tier
One of the most consistent bands of all time. I love every album. My favorite is The Gathering.
One of the more consistent discographies of the genre!
Much respect for Testament!🤘🔥💀
The Gathering is my fav. Demonic was the first album I heard.
Testament rules!! One of the few who got HEAVIER instead of softer in that aweful grunge and nu-metal era we have all somehow erased from our memories, where even Slayer got a bit gnarly.
Hahaha regarding "The Ritual" : "I don't know..." you hit the nail on the head right there... I would say "Souls of Black" and "The Ritual" are the closest you would come to Testament sort of "selling out" (take that loosely in context). Much of the reasons for them mellowing out was because Alex Skolnick was having a ego "I'm a jazzy fucking professional guitarist too good for thrash" phase (that he has since grown TOTALLY away from, so no dissing Alex!), something which ultimately caused him to leave Testament after "The Ritual" to pursue his Super-Guitarist solo career for a bit of a spell. No worries, he needed to do that, and Testament with him back in the fold is much better for it today! Alex finally realized that thrash metal IS the perfect platform for Super-Guitarist wankery, because there are no rules but to SLAY!
My ratings:
The Legacy: 4/5
The New Order: 5/5
Practice What You Preach: 2.5/5
Souls of Black: 4/5
The Ritual: 3.5/5
Low: 4/5
Demonic: 2/5
The Gathering: 5/5
The Formation of Damnation: 4.5/5
Dark Roots of Earth: 3/5
Brotherhood Of The Snake: 3.5/5
Titans of Creation: 4/5
Eric Peterson is too often overlooked.
Dude's mad talented
Not gonna bother whipping out my list, they all slap
Fucking facts
Low is my favorite album from them. Hail Mary is one of their best songs.
Me as well Brandon, Low is overall my favorite Testament album. Every song is fantastic!!!!
I love thrash metal, and some of my favorites outside of the big four are Exodus, Sepultura, Overkill, Sodom, Kreator, Annihalator, Holy Moses, voivod, vektor and nuclear assault, but for some reason I just haven’t ever listen to Testament. I know a few songs, but only really from auto play on Apple Music. I really need to seek them out because I love what I’ve heard
Yes you do good sir, so many raging records.
I like Demonic, but I can see reasons for not liking it. Nice video.
Me too. Don't really understand the hate it gets other than yes, its Testament doing a really good mid tempo death metal album. So yes, it's not thrash. But it's still damn good.
My rank would be this:
12 - Demonic
11 - Low
10 - The Ritual
9 - The Legacy
8 - Formation of Damnation
7 - The Gathering
6 - Souls of Black
5 - Practice What You Preach
4 - Dark Roots of Earth
3 - Titans of Creation
2 - The New Order
1 - Brotherhood of The Snake
Honestly it is really hard to name a favorite, but if I had to choose it would either be The New Order or Brotherhood (title track of that one is probably my favorite song right now)
Will you be at the gig in London, On. on October 1st with them, Exodus and Death Angel? Killer classic thrash lineup!
Nahh man. London is a bit far for me to go for a show, and my job makes it difficult to book off weekends. Party extra hard for me bud.
Kinda agree on everything except for Low. Love that album.
Great video sir! Was wondering if you’d ever be down to do a “hot take” video, not sure if you’ve ever done that kind of video before. Reviewing peoples hot takes on metal or just bands in general. Could be fun? Just a suggestion, keep up the great work ! 🤘🤘
A good friend of mine told me this story last night as we were chillen.
He and his girl bought tickets from this guy on Ticket master and when they got to their concert the Guard at the door said these tickets were fake. My friend tried to call the guy, but he realized he was scammed.
Right when he felt the world screwed him over the guard at the door let he and his girl in and they got to see one of his favorite bands.
Oooooh i got another album series for you to review that i think youd like and maybe find challenging. reviewing every Overkill album. God i love Overkill as much as Testament. Thank you for this one
I kind of agree about the Brotherhood of the Snake. It feels like blasphemy to rank it higher than The New Order, The Legacy etc but I love that album.
I got introduced to Testament with my older brother bringing home "latest album" The Ritual back in the 90ties when I was just a kid. So Electric Crown holds a special place in my heart but still The Pale King makes me go ape shit on a level only Nightmare (coming back to you) from Practice did before (I know random track but I fuckin' love it).
I'm a huge death metal fan, but I also love Testament. Yes, Demonic is a bad album, but for me it's fun to listen to for obvious reasons. The Burning Times was the best song. Bad album, but one of my favorites from Testament.
Demonic was ten times better than the legacy to me.
a day when you post a discography review is a good day!!
NOW WHEN IS MORBID ANGEL??
Thats a good question...
I would love to see all Exodus albums ranked.
RE: "Greenhouse Effect" being ahead of its time...
"Blackened" would like a word with you
It's amazing how consistent this band is so late in the game. Testament is definitely a thrash band that I could listen to all day. They were also my last band that I went and saw before the world came crashing down! I was at the London show for the Bay Strikes Back tour, and every band on the bill absolutely fucking destroyed. They all got Covid maybe a week or two after that show I think? So not good in that regard 🤣 Testament were on fire and you can really tell by seeing them live and from the studio output they've had since returning that they are just on a constant high, and are without a doubt the most consistent of the classic thrash bands, rivalled only maybe by Overkill, the difference between the 2 being that while Overkill has been releasing very solid stuff recently I wouldn't consider any of it top shelf or classic (with the exception of maybe Ironbound), I honestly think that albums like Dark Roots, Brotherhood and Titans of Creation really do hold up as potential Testament classics. The amount of talent in the band is also disgustingly unfair! Gutted that Gene is gone as he has been a massive influence on my own drumming style since I've discovered extreme metal, but I'm glad that I got to see him with them and I'm also very much looking forward to seeing Dave Lombardo in action for the first time later this year at Bloodstock!
Discovered Testament around the same time you did, with the same album. So I also have an attachment with DROE. It's hard to pick a favourite, but I have this strange attachment with The Gathering for some reason. It just seems to be the album I return to the most. I love how tight and well-performed it is. The dark atmosphere on songs like Eyes of Wrath, 3 Days in Darkness and Riding the Snake is really captivating, while the raging thrashers like D.N.R. and The Legions of the Dead (one of the best thrash metal songs of all time, IMO) balance the album perfectly, making it consistently replayable. Otherwise The New Order is also one I think is probably their best and most re-listenable, along with The Legacy.
I live in Dallas and missed that show but I just got back from a crazy weekend in New Orleans catching these guys at the House of Blues. We did the VIP meet and greet thing and during the Q&A part had a nice chat about Demonic. I asked why it seems I'm the only one that likes Demonic. And the guys got defensive and then explained where they were at during the time of that recording. It makes sense in the grand scheme of things and Chuck Billy had a good laugh when I said that album was my gateway to death metal. I dig Demonic even if everyone on the RUclipsverse shits on it. The Burning Times is one of my favorite Testament tracks of all time.
More power to ya bud. Also, Im jealous. Testament? VIP? In New Orleans? Now THATS one hell of a party.
@@themetalmeltdownofficial Spur of the moment trip with a old high school friend I hadn't seen in decades. It definitely was a blast :)
The only albums I listen to are The Legacy, The New Order, Practice What You Preach, and The Ritual.
Great list. Enjoyed the video.
The Gathering is probably one of the best Thrash debuts of all time.
The legacy
"The Formation of Damnation" was for me what "Dark Roots of Earth" was for you.
But as a long time Testament fan, if have to disagree with you on the rating for The Legacy. It is the best Testament record in my opinion. It has a great youthful energie, and chucks vocals on this record have a certain kind of charme, its hard to describe. Also just those riffs and amazing Solos! The New Order is great, but has some fillers on it, The Legacy certainly does not. Yes, the production is not the best for 80s standards, and that is a matter of taste I guess. Personally I prefer 80s production over almost all the modern stuff when it comes to thrash (even though im born in 1992).
My favorite Testament album is The New Oder.
12 Demonic
The Ritual
Low
Brotherhood
Dark Roots
Titans
Formation
Legacy
Souls
Practice
Gathering
1 The New Order
The Legacy sounds amazing all things considered. Great album top to bottom mayne!! 9/10
The New Order is impressive everytime i go back to it. Fucking love it. 9.5/10
Practice What You Preach is one that never jived with me. It has all the ingredients but the vocal melodies and hooks lose me on this. I do love the bass sound and the instrumentation in general though so 7/10
Souls of Black is back to form with some intensity. I love it. I like the darker tone. 8.5/10
The Ritual....dudes wtf happened? It sounds like radio hit style songs for some reason. Ive come back to it 3x and not really liked it. There's always some cool stuff throughout but as a whole aint amazing 5 or 6/10
Low is badass! Lol i love how heavy and driving this is. Great songs from start to end but nothing iconic or particularly epic 8/10
Demonic, a fine album for what it is. I dont prefer this sound for them at all, but they do it well. I say 7/10
The Gathering reminds me of Low a lot. I love this as well. 8/10
Formation of Damnation, whoa now we've settled in and really found the new SOUND. Ritual - The Gathering seemed like an identity crisis to some extent. But this album feels natural and feels VERY TESTAMENT. Not flawless, but the sound is there. 8.5/10
Dark Roots of the Earth a great continuation of what Formation laid down. Love the Maiden cover. 8.5/10
Brotherhood of the Snake is fucking great. After finding their sound, i think they found their groove song writing wise. Love it. 9/10
Titans of Creation, works best as a full listen through and not singles. Great album, but not quite as bangable as Brotherhood. They still got their sound down pat though. 8/10
I'm sorry, but if Dog Face Gods doesn't get you moving, do you even metal?
I understand why some dislike "Demonic" because of the vocals, and more Death sound, but "LOW" is a killer album full of straight up bangers. I'd take that album over Practice What You Preach ANY DAY.
Testament is one of my all time favorite bands. The New Order is the best thrash album ever made in my opinion. The first time I heard it, it completely blew my mind. I totally understand your take on souls of black, but the songs are sooooo goooood for me. Here's my personal ranking.
1. The New Order - 5/5
2. The Gathering - 4.75/5
3. The Legacy - 4.5/5
4. The Formation Of Damnation - 4.5/5
5. Titans Of Creation - 4.25/5
6. Brotherhood Of The Snake - 4/5
7. Souls Of Black - 4/5
8. Practice What You Preach - 3.75/5
9. Low - 3.5/5
10. Dark Roots Of The Earth - 3.5/5
11. The Ritual - 3/5
12. Demonic - 3/5
I love The Ritual.
I loved Demonic.
Testament Rules 🤘
Testament truly does not have a bad album but for the sake of ratings Demonic is definitely their worst album. My personal favorite is the Gathering and Trail by Fire is my favorite song of theirs. I remember seeing the video on like a MTV 2 headbangers ball marathon or something and just being like wtf am I hearing!?!? 🤘
You are correct, persecuted won't forget is the best riff of all riffs
Fuck yeah! I've always said the big 4 for me is Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and TESTAMENT. Anthrax never did a damn thing for me where Testament has been kicking total ass this whole time. Also my favorite albums are The Gathering and Brotherhood of the snake 🤘
Practice what u preach #1. 🐐🔥Souls of Black. Is one of my all time covers🔥🔥🔥
Is he saying Dark roots of errf ?
Are u fucking kidding me? Environmental songs were a thrash staple in the late 80s
Can you do Razor?
IMO the big four should be Megadeth, Slayer, Metallica and Testament.
Testament can't be in the Big 4,cause Big 4 is a term based on sales numbers and Anthrax sold way more than Testament
@@GhostSound2 I get that, but if you rate on quality, longevity and impact, I believe Testament scores higher.
Are you high? Anthrax is awesome! It should be Metallica, Testament, Anthrax, and Slayer.
@@mysteriousparadoxproductio9339 No I’m not 😊 and that’s why I said IMO
@@YONATOOTH
Honestly,if I would rate Big 4 on quality,longevity and impact,I would honestly replace Slayer with Testament rather than Anthrax
That's definitely a controversial opinion,but for me Slayer became really formulaic after Seasons In The Abyss and never quite reached those heights,while Anthrax released their two latest albums,which are one of the best albums ever
New Order
I hadn’t listened to The New Order in a while - forgot how good it is 🤘🏿
One of the best thrash albums of all time.
I agree with Low being one of the weakest but I love the solo on So Many Lies. Somehow I missed the last release....gonna to go listen to that right fuking now 🤘
I haven't listened to FULL ALBUMS by Testament, only a song here and there. Never really got too much into them. I DID see them at Heavy T.O. back in 2011 when I was a teenager!
Off-topic, but it was nice to meet you at Brickworks with my dad and brother last night! Sorry for being flustered there; I was trying to calm down from an episode I had outside with people's dogs (yeah... I have cynophobia and bark-induced misophonia).
Half a year ago, I made a rant video against your Sleep Token review where I went SUPER DUPER HARD on ya hahaha! Like, I was PISSED OFF at ya that day. 😬🤣 Here it is, dude (It's pretty intense, both me and the comments): ruclips.net/video/MVg1oCGnfXo/видео.html
You've nothing to apologize for man, twas great to meet ya and I hope you and your family had a great evening! 🍻
@@themetalmeltdownofficial We did! Thank you.
My OCD is tingling like crazy: it's DiGIOrgio, not Digorge-eo.
My ocd noticed that also, and how he says “ dark roots of the erfff “. I’m sure there’s a TH in there somewhere.
Fantastic video as usual.
Love Testament, Dark Roots of Earth is my favorite post millennium record.
The REAL 4th member of the Big 4...
who the hell listens to Anthrax
The New Order is easily my favorite, one of my top 3 trash records.
3. Speak English or die
2. The new order
1. Dimension Hatröss
Sorry, i think "Low" knocks "the Ritual" out of the park.
LOW is clutch, they were getting into deathier stuff. James Murphy rips all over it. I get it tho if you weren't alive then. Demonic does stink tho, they lost me there. Lost interest but I'll scope Brotherhood of the snake
New Order is my fav
Let's see a steel panther list
Hell no lmao
@@themetalmeltdownofficial soy boy
@@PortugueseMACPOW thats the best you got? lame
@@themetalmeltdownofficial Well, I wasn't going to reference your low t Canadian high pitch voice, but since you asked for it...
@@PortugueseMACPOW Somehow even lamer lmao
*Warning: EXTREMELY LONG FUCKING COMMENT*
Hello again Meltdown sorry I have not been able to see the last couple of vids and not be in the comment sections for the last couple vids. Have had a 4-5 day vacation going to Arizona to play in a golf/Poker tournament for 3 days. Come back yesterday morning to get ready to See Rotting Christ/Borknagar, while getting really fucking drunk. There is now an 11th Commandment in the Bible I made “Go see Rotting Christ or else Christ ain’t gonna be the only thing that is gonna rot” Both bands were epic. I have a really shitty hangover now but with how much fun I had with my Dad/Friends it was so worth it. But yeah Internet coverage on the road and in our hotels were so beyond limited or we had no service at all. So I’ll give my thoughts on the past couple albums/Eps you’ve reviewed.
Undeath is being Undeath. OSDM worship throughout. So I can completely understand why people love, good for those people. I have never been able to get myself to like these guys. It’s not bad but I feel like there is better bands out there that can give you the same type of OSDM worship experience. 2/5
Kirk………my man I am very sorry that I doubted you. Because WOW this album was such a fun and interesting ride. I love that he shows his love for Symphonic Metal, Prog Rock/Metal and of course the Type of thrash you would expect from Metallica/Exodus. This album kinda gets to show a gripe that I have had with Metallica for quite awhile. As much as James Hetfield is one of my favorite musical Idols and as Much as I respect Lars, I always just wish they would get Kirk, Rob more involved in the songwriting process because this album proved that Kirk has some very interesting and creative ideas that he can contribute. This is definitely Better than a majority of albums Metallica have released for the last 20-30 years. Well done Kirk 4/5.
Ok now that’s out of the Way. Testament are one of my favorite Thrash bands and one of my favorite metal bands in general. Same with Sodom, Holy Moses, Mekong Delta, Razor, Voivod, Megadeth. Chuck Billy is my favorite Thrash vocalist of all time. Eric Peterson/Alex Skolnick is one of my favorite Guitar Duos of all time up there with Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman imo. They have a pretty consistent Discog so this is a much harder ranking than I expected.
S: Souls of Black, Brotherhood of the Snake, The New Order, Dark Roots of Earth
A: The Gathering, Practice What you Preach,The Legacy
B: Formation of Damnation, First Strike Still Deadly, Titans of Creation
C: Low
D: The Ritual
F: Demonic
You've nothing to apologize for man, cheers 🍻
imo Testament were good but never great. Even the stuff like Legacy and TNO to me aren’t anything that I’d compare to MOP or RIB or Peace Sells or Terrible Certainty as far as 80s thrash goes.
They are one of the better Bay Area bands though. Better than Exodus at least lmao.
Demonic all the way
The Ritual the same rating as The Legacy?. Souls of Black and The Ritual are their worst albums. Their Metallica phase.
🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢
1 The Legacy
2 The New Order
3 The Gathering
4 Dark Roots Of Earth
5 Low
6 Brotherhood Of The Snake
7 Practice What You Preach
8 Souls Of Black
9 Formation Of Damnation
10 The Ritual
11 Demonic
12 Titans Of Creation
Their last 3 albums have taken the Big 4 to school. Metallica hasn't touched this level of quality in thirty years. Megadeth has come closer but is mired in conspiracy theory bullshit and the worst vocals in the genre. Testament stands head and shoulders above the old-school thrash bands.
The legacy is such an over rated record.
Low is such a bad album
Low #1 by a country mile
Testament sucks
booooo
Low and Souls of Black are two of my favourite Testament albums