Testament - The Formation of Damnation

Hot Topic sells cds?

Yup, usually a small selection from the last time I was in one.....which was several years ago.

Some locations sell about 7 (the one where I live) and some have dozens or even hundreds of titles - many of which are suprisingly good. A good mix of nu, metal-core, thrash, death, black, powermetal (both Euro and Trad/American), goth, symphonic, punk, hardcore, even some classic metal.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Some locations sell about 7 (the one where I live) and some have dozens or even hundreds of titles - many of which are suprisingly good. A good mix of nu, metal-core, thrash, death, black, powermetal (both Euro and Trad/American), goth, symphonic, punk, hardcore, even some classic metal.

I was not aware of this either. The last time I went into a Hot Topic store at the mall, I felt like an old man. All the kids working there looked at me like I was either a creepy old perv or a dad looking for his kid.

Well, I felt the same way, what with the sideways looks from the staff, but was wearing my sleeveless Into The Pit tee so I guess that gave me a little cache? Little turds with their girl pants! Ha! It is like a different world in there. I just walk right past the thongs and tongue studs straight to the cds, and try not to make eye contact with the little natives.

I've listened to this twice now. This is exactly how I like my Thrash!!

This is so good.

Every time I hear it I love it more, Testament are back and I couldn't be any happier.

Wow! The reviews on Metal-Archives for this CD are BRUTAL!!! Why the heck do people expect bands to re-record old albums and sounds? The reviews are ridiculous, "Not as good as before." Yet I'd be willing to bet if they had recorded an album that sounded exactly like "The New Order/Practice What You Preach" these hordes would still criticize them for sounding "stale". Seems some band's just cannot win with the metal fans.

Someone complained that this was not thrash metal. Ok, so what! It's still metal. It has riffs, it has hooks, it has solos, it's metal! Why does everything have to fit into a certain formula, one in which Testament really hasn't fit in since 1992's "The Ritual".

AND my rant is done...for now!

Huh? That's funny that people are coming down on it. I think it sounds awesome!

I think it's heavy power metal with thrash tendencies and it's great!

ultmetal wrote:

Wow! The reviews on Metal-Archives for this CD are BRUTAL!!! Why the heck do people expect bands to re-record old albums and sounds? The reviews are ridiculous, "Not as good as before." Yet I'd be willing to bet if they had recorded an album that sounded exactly like "The New Order/Practice What You Preach" these hordes would still criticize them for sounding "stale". Seems some band's just cannot win with the metal fans.

Someone complained that this was not thrash metal. Ok, so what! It's still metal. It has riffs, it has hooks, it has solos, it's metal! Why does everything have to fit into a certain formula, one in which Testament really hasn't fit in since 1992's "The Ritual".

AND my rant is done...for now!

same happened with Slayer. everyone panned Diablous & GHUA as to modern. then when they shot back with Christ Illusion, everyone whined about how they were just copying themselves. silly.

Metal Archives is complete crap. It's a great site for info, but it shouldn't be interactive. Has anyone ever checked out the forum? Man, if you want to walk away with no hope for the future of humanity, visit the forum. It's like Blabbermouth x 10.

I like the review section and the fact that they have links. Didn't know there was a forum.

This album rules!! If this is not thrash, then I don't wanna know what is!! Testament should be in a category ABOVE the so-called big 4!

Sounds like thrash to me.Great album.I know its hard to let go of the nostalgia of the earlier albums but this a great Hit from one of Thrash metals finest.

It's Thrash!!! Anyone that disagrees doesn't know jack.

Some people will just never be happy. I think it's a great album. If I had a request about anything, I would say that I would have liked to hear an old-school instrumental on there. They've done some nice one's in the past and it would have been nice to hear Alex go off a little bit. But that's a very, very minor complaint.

Well I completely dig this album and it shall be added to my arsenal soon.

I heard a few tunes from this one today (title track and a couple others), have to say that the music sounded KILLER but the cookie monster vocals on the title track pretty much ruined it for me. If there's alot of that style of singing on this album I won't be picking this one up.

Put this on yesterday after maybe over a month of not touching it, and it still sounds real good to me. I wouldn't say that Chuck's vocals are cookie monster at all. They fit perfectly with the music.

detuned wrote:

I heard a few tunes from this one today (title track and a couple others), have to say that the music sounded KILLER but the cookie monster vocals on the title track pretty much ruined it for me. If there's alot of that style of singing on this album I won't be picking this one up.

It's kinda like the way it is on the Low album a mix of clean and growl.

Guess I wasn't prepared for it, the last Testament album I heard was The Ritual. I'll see if I can find some more samples to listen to, cause damn the music really sounded killer.

I've just never been a fan of the growling death vocal thing, it bugs the crap out of me.

detuned wrote:

Guess I wasn't prepared for it, the last Testament album I heard was The Ritual. I'll see if I can find some more samples to listen to, cause damn the music really sounded killer.

I've just never been a fan of the growling death vocal thing, it bugs the crap out of me.

Alot of it is natural heavy vocals like Max Cavalera but Chuck Billy style.

detuned wrote:

Guess I wasn't prepared for it, the last Testament album I heard was The Ritual. I'll see if I can find some more samples to listen to, cause damn the music really sounded killer.

I've just never been a fan of the growling death vocal thing, it bugs the crap out of me.

he does it less on this album than i would have prefered. he has a great death drowl.

This album hasn't grabbed me like I hoped it would. That makes me sad.
I can't put my finger on it either, it just doesn't do it for me.