New Testament Track Streaming!

Grimmo wrote:

This song sounds great. If the rest of the album sounds anything like this, it will be my third great thrash album I've purchased this year. The other two being the recent Overkill and Kreator albums. Mind you, I have the complete discography of all three bands, so my completist ways make me want to get this. I'm just glad that the sample sounds promising.

Have you gotten the new Prong? It is a great thrash release this year as well.

DallasBlack wrote:

Grimmo wrote:

This song sounds great. If the rest of the album sounds anything like this, it will be my third great thrash album I've purchased this year. The other two being the recent Overkill and Kreator albums. Mind you, I have the complete discography of all three bands, so my completist ways make me want to get this. I'm just glad that the sample sounds promising.

Have you gotten the new Prong? It is a great thrash release this year as well.

No I haven't. I've just checked out Carved Into Stone on Youtube in response to yuor question. To me, it sounds like the best stuff Prong has released in years. Tommy Victor's vocals are as awesome as ever.

Carved Into Stone is a kick-ass record indeed, excellent.

S.D. wrote:

Carved Into Stone is a kick-ass record indeed, excellent.

Indeed. Wouldn't call it thrash, though. There are some thrashy tunes, but it's not a thrash album.

Eyesore wrote:

S.D. wrote:

Carved Into Stone is a kick-ass record indeed, excellent.

Indeed. Wouldn't call it thrash, though. There are some thrashy tunes, but it's not a thrash album.

I agree, I don't think Prong has ever been a thrash band...they really don't fit into any genres, they just sound like Prong.

S.D. wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

S.D. wrote:

Carved Into Stone is a kick-ass record indeed, excellent.

Indeed. Wouldn't call it thrash, though. There are some thrashy tunes, but it's not a thrash album.

I agree, I don't think Prong has ever been a thrash band...they really don't fit into any genres, they just sound like Prong.

That is correct. They've always been too industrial for the thrash fans, too thrashy for the industrial fans, and too confusing for so many others. Haha.

I think it's quite an achievement to literally be in a one-band genre. I can't name any band that sounds like Prong.

Has Alex Skolnick lost his lead guitar touch? He hasn't been stellar with his note choices in 'Formation' ... and this sample ... or maybe I just got too spoiled with his mind-blowing fretwork in 'The Ritual', don't get me wrong here, the riffs are nice (still a guitar God) but there's something missing with his solos lately, kinda likened to Dimebag when he abruptly changed his style in 'Far Beyond Driven'

Even though I liked FoD, I must agree with you. The solos were not bad but his solos used to stand out. In Formation, they bordered on average.

I'm pretty sure at least half of the solos on that new tune are Eric Peterson. I read an interview where he said he was doing a lot more solos on the new album, which I wasn't thrilled to hear.

Shut up and enjoy to the music, you miserable wankers! Very few solos are mind-blowing or even really interesting.

Do you play guitar, Eyesore?

Infinite wrote:

Do you play guitar, Eyesore?

I was once an active musician, yes.

Eyesore wrote:

Shut up and enjoy to the music, you miserable wankers! Very few solos are mind-blowing or even really interesting.

Never once said I didn't enjoy the music. Don't group me in with the haters. Also, I couldn't list the amount of guitar solos that I absolutly love without spending hours and many pages on Microsoft word, so quality of solos is subjective.

Eyesore wrote:

Infinite wrote:

Do you play guitar, Eyesore?

I was once an active musician, yes.

Ah, okay. Well, generally guitarists are the only ones who care about solos. For the record, I dig the new song. I realize that a guitar solo is only maybe twenty seconds of a tune (in most cases) and has little impact on the quality of the song (unless it's a really horrible solo), but being a guitarist, given the choice between listening to Eric play a solo or Alex, I'll go with the latter. Eric's a decent lead player, but I see no reason for him to be going halfsies on the solos when they've got a killer lead player like Skolnick in the band.

I dig solos. Hell, I think Alex's solo in "Return to Serenity" is the best solo I've ever heard. But that kind of solo is a rarity to me. I just don't dissect music in that regard. I don't pick out unoriginal riffs or whatever. That's just too tedious for me, you know.

Even when I could barely play guitar I could recognize that Skolnick's solos were (operative word) amazing.

I don't play drums but I can hear when a drummer plays cool fills or gets off-time.

The posters here are correct: Skolnick is phoning it in and has been for a while. Hard to blame him though. Few care! As long as they have the "original" lineup playing shows (which is where the real money is) they can play it safe stylistically and phone it in with the new material and few will criticize.

i actually prefer the albums they made without Skolnick. not that i don't think he's a great guitarist, but those 3 were heavier & more aggressive.

mc666 wrote:

i actually prefer the albums they made without Skolnick. not that i don't think he's a great guitarist, but those 3 were heavier & more aggressive.

I'm coming to this point myself. My favorite remains The Legacy, but I'm more often feeling like listening to Low - The Gathering over most of the other stuff

mc666 wrote:

i actually prefer the albums they made without Skolnick. not that i don't think he's a great guitarist, but those 3 were heavier & more aggressive.

James Murphy added a whole lot of dimension to that modern Testament sound, which is a good thing...without him, Testament wouldn't be as exciting and diverse, as a Skolnick fan I have to admit James writes the meaner riffs but as far as overall fretboard mastery is concerned, Alex is two notches ahead

Eyesore wrote:

I dig solos. Hell, I think Alex's solo in "Return to Serenity" is the best solo I've ever heard. But that kind of solo is a rarity to me. I just don't dissect music in that regard. I don't pick out unoriginal riffs or whatever. That's just too tedious for me, you know.

Yeah, I'm with you on the riff thing. Unless it's a direct rip-off, I never notice.

Infinite wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Infinite wrote:

Do you play guitar, Eyesore?

I was once an active musician, yes.

Ah, okay. Well, generally guitarists are the only ones who care about solos. For the record, I dig the new song. I realize that a guitar solo is only maybe twenty seconds of a tune (in most cases) and has little impact on the quality of the song (unless it's a really horrible solo), but being a guitarist, given the choice between listening to Eric play a solo or Alex, I'll go with the latter. Eric's a decent lead player, but I see no reason for him to be going halfsies on the solos when they've got a killer lead player like Skolnick in the band.

If I'm not mistaken Eric is the band's primary songwriter, so him getting a chunk of Alex's duties doesn't surprise me here

All of their albums up to 'The Ritual' were somewhat traditionally-structured and required mostly a Neo-Classical lead style to complement those blistering fast-paced rhythms which I believe Eric is totally INCAPABLE of doing of to some extent

Enter the Death/Groove era Testament...now this is Eric's comfort zone, while there is no way they're going back to that traditional Neo-classical songwriting sense, I believe it's just Alex following Eric's lead (as in leadership) here so there's not much he can do about it as far as reverting back to his old style

Alex is an entirely different guitar player today; he could never revert back to his old style. He even plays the old solos in a new way, taking into account of all the things he's learned, particularly in jazz, since he first left the band.

As for him phoning it in, I don't think that's the case. I think he's playing differently today.

Criticism aside, we're all assuming these are even Skolnick's leads. He didn't contribute much to the last album. He wrote one song, I think. That's it. Who's to say anything is different this time?

The new Testament song sounds great! Definitely don't agree with ToB... This album is gonna kill.

^ I'm pretty stoked for it, they've never let me down.

Another new track streaming:

http://store.nuclearblastusa.com/Item/Testament_-_-Dark_Roots_Of_Earth-_2LP_+_Shirt_-PRE-ORDER-/PKG001243