Gene Hoglan on TESTAMENT

I had heard he felt this way, but I found the quote:

"Ok, so take us thru your career with some of the bands you’ve played with.

Gene: well, you already know that I used to roadie for Slayer and physically hold Dave (Lombardo’s) double bass drums in place while he was drumming! But Testament was extra cash. I wasn’t even familiar with their music and to me it was corporate thrash. Legacy was underground but Testament was five good-looking dudes playing safe metal and that’s not what I’m into. I like bands like Possessed who for a while were the deadliest band on the planet."

I know he also didn't really like DEATH's music too much before he joined the band.

A lot of TESTAMENT's music is "safe" and derivative of METALLICA and SLAYER. I'm a big fan but there is some truth here. A lot of their popular albums have a lot of mediocre lyrics, riffs, drumming, etc. on them.

Agree/disagree?

Ouch, Gene!

I can sort of agree with what he's saying though. The first couple of Testaments were great, but they started to slide (or sound "safe") circa PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH (though I still dig that record) and they were phoning it in on most of SOULS OF BLACK. They stopped the skid with the LOW record, but after that they were sorta flailing around for a few albums, throwing stuff at the walls to see what would stick (i.e. DEMONIC, THE GATHERING, etc.).

I have an issue of Metal Maniacs with a hilarious Testament article in it from the time Hoglan was still involved with'em. The writer sez he was out at a restaurant with the band, in the middle of doing the interview, when Gene Hoglan picked that exact moment to tell Chuck and Greg that he couldn't tour with Testament because he'd just accepted an offer from Strapping Young Lad. Haha. Awkward!!

Five Good Looking Dudes? Um no I dont think so,Haha.Anyway,I can see what he means to a point but I still dig alot of their stuff.
Hoglan usually looks bored playing almost anything IMO anyway.Hes such a great drummer and seems like a good guy.I can see where he would consider Testament mediocre.

On a totally unrelated note, I saw Gene play w/Dark Angel back in the day. That boy was HUGE. At the end of their set the band came to the front of the stage to take a bow and Gene motioned like he was going to do a stage dive, the floor in front of him cleared out immediately.

Gene is one of my absolute favorite metal musicians and I had the honor to meet him and ask him all of my fanboy questions at the Milwaukee Metalfest one year as NUCLEAR ASSAULT were playing. Super nice guy. And super huge.

meh, he's entitled to his opinion about them. i never really saw Dethklok, Strapping Young Lad, or Fear Factory as particularly deadly either, not that it matters.

im on the fence. I think Testament is sort of a "safe" version of these bands. but also better. I never really liked metallica or slayer.

He's entitled to his opinion. I personally like Testament better than many of the other bands he was in, and certainly better than Possessed. I'm not sure what is "safe" about it. It's not like they were playing 80's pop or glam metal.

ultmetal wrote:

He's entitled to his opinion. I personally like Testament better than many of the other bands he was in, and certainly better than Possessed. I'm not sure what is "safe" about it. It's not like they were playing 80's pop or glam metal.

That sums it up nicely for me too, although Gene seemingly had no problem taking the gig for "extra cash".

So who ya gonna believe? Testament, the pretty boy, corporate metal sellouts or someone that does a job for anyone if the money's right? Don't they have a name for that?

All this Testament bashing is getting really old. Hey Gene get your lard ass on The Biggest Loser you fat mofo.

WhenTheWildWindBlows wrote:

All this Testament bashing is getting really old. Hey Gene get your lard ass on The Biggest Loser you fat mofo.

All this Gene bashing is really getting old. Hey WhereTheWindBlows get your lard ass to a metal board who give a crap about you, you fat mofo.

Quote :

A lot of TESTAMENT's music is "safe" and derivative of METALLICA and SLAYER. I'm a big fan but there is some truth here. A lot of their popular albums have a lot of mediocre lyrics, riffs, drumming, etc. on them.

Agree/disagree?

The only one that could be considered mediocre was Louie Clemente.

Chuck, Eric, Greg and Alex are top notch musicians. Some of the best imo!

Also that particular album Gene played on was very "basic" musically. It was almost a waste to hire someone of Gene's talent to play such basic drum tracks...

Dave Lombardo played on a much better record and obviously has nothing bad to say about his experience.

Don't agree, but whatever. I wish I could say I played for a "safe" band like Testament.

I don't agree...I'm not exactly sure what "safe" means......Testament is one of my Favs, so I'm a bit bias....Alex Skolnick is an amazing guitar player.....

What does he mean by safe?

MetalGuy71 wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

He's entitled to his opinion. I personally like Testament better than many of the other bands he was in, and certainly better than Possessed. I'm not sure what is "safe" about it. It's not like they were playing 80's pop or glam metal.

That sums it up nicely for me too, although Gene seemingly had no problem taking the gig for "extra cash".

So who ya gonna believe? Testament, the pretty boy, corporate metal sellouts or someone that does a job for anyone if the money's right? Don't they have a name for that?

Skolnick is the only one that could possibly be called a pretty boy. Eric and Chuck, especially Chuck, are ugly dudes. I guess playing safe meant they had too much melody in thier thrash and Chuck actually sung.

When I got a Testament cd not too long ago I showed the booklet to my wife, and when she saw the photo of the band members she nearly puked.

WTF is corporate thrash? Pretty? Shut up Gene.

Gene is entitled to his opinion but I diagree. I think Testament's first three or four albums still sound great, were Testament completely original? Perhaps not but I thought they had their own sound.


As far as Testament being four good looking guys? Are you f**king kidding me!!!!!!! I donot think chics were tearing down their Bon Jovi posters to make room for Chuck Billy's chessecake pictures.

Alex is way better guitarist then the dude in Fear Factory, I like Possessed but their nick name was baby Slayer for Christ sakes, I like Possessed but deadliest band on the planet, I have to ask, are you f**king kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!

Testament commerical, yes maybe they were on this guy's planet:

Quote :

As far as Testament being four good looking guys? Are you f**king kidding me!!!!!!!

Maybe Gene is comparing them to himself... if that's the case, he has a point.

mc666 wrote:

i never really saw Dethklok, Strapping Young Lad, or Fear Factory as particularly deadly either, not that it matters.

Agreed.

But I don't think they are as derivative (well, maybe Dethklok) as TESTAMENT. And I like TESTAMENT once again for the record.

ultmetal wrote:

I personally like Testament better than many of the other bands he was in, and certainly better than Possessed.

I do too.

Quote :

I'm not sure what is "safe" about it.

I would assume he meant that it is stylistically not breaking any new ground or pushing any current boundary in metal.

I do think POSSESSED pushed boundaries and were probably the single biggest influence on the creation of death metal.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Gene seemingly had no problem taking the gig for "extra cash".

He wouldn't join TESTAMENT or SLAYER for the money. Nowadays I think he'll play with anyone for the money. OPETH, FORBIDDEN, FEAR FACTORY, etc.