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Testament - The Gathering Audio CD

A fair review of the Testament "The Gathering" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Testament reviews here, or go back to the Testament tabs.

Testament Band: Testament
Title: The Gathering
Rating:
Release Date: 2008-01-08
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate) 2: Down for Life 3: Eyes of Wrath 4: True Believer 5: 3 Days in Darkness 6: Legions of the Dead 7: Careful What You Wish For 8: Riding the Snake 9: Allegiance 10: Sewn Shut Eyes 11: Fall of Sipledome 12: Hammer of the Gods

Testament At Their Usual Best
Testament has been a band I only discovered recently the past few years and have been a great addition to my metal regiment (Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Megadeth, Sepultura, etc. ) The Gathering is another amazing addition to the already fantastic discography that Testament has accumalated over the past years. With the Gathering, Testament displays their raw metal force seen in Demonic with a return to a more progressively thrashy sound. D. N. R rips this album open in a fury of fast metal riffs that set the stage for what the Gathering is going to be, with intense drumming thanks to former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo, beautiful crafted metal riffs by veteran Eric Peterson, great guitar work by James Murphy, and the usual power-wrenching vocals of Chuck Billy. Billy has returned to his older style of singing, with less of the death metal style seen in Demonic. The whole album screams "no-holds-barred-metal-in-your-face" with tracks like Eyes of Wrath, Legions of the Dead, and Riding the Snake, which are committed to showing the world that no one rocks harder than Testament.

If you enjoyed Low and Demonic, than this a welcome addition to the Testament sound with an album that is every bit an evolution of the powerful thrash metal. And if you are like me and enjoyed the Skolnick-era of Testament (i. e. The Legacy, The New Order, Practice What You Preach, Souls of Black, and The Ritual), you will be pleased to see that, even though the leads are not as commanding as the earlier years, Testament is still one of the greatest bands of metal, crafting an aggressive and powerful metal sound like no other.


reborn again from the ashes! with new life and old friends
proving they can be unstoppible when they put their minds to it. after demonic i had given up on them but this is yet another reason to believe with james murphy back again and dave lombardo behind the drum kit they seem to be back in force to thrash some more. but soon after this they will lose james due to illness and dave will return to slayer but they will return to near original form in 8 years with formation of damnation 2008.


An unexpected treat
Well-produced and executed metal is important to me. I'm a big fan of American thrash metal - Metallica, Anthrax, Pantera, Slayer, Megadeth - and also of the British metal as well, like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. I have the entire catalogue of all these bands and have been a fan since the late 1980s when I was a teenager. But I never stumbled upon Testament until recently, and I wish I had. I always meant to check out Testament, but never got around to it. I dabbled with Exodus, Metal Church, and other American thrash/power metal bands aside from those above, but for some odd reason Testament never made its way by me. My first exposure was The Gathering, and I was instantly excited about it.

The Gathering, to my surprise, comes across with the raw power and force of a band like Pantera in its lyrical presentation and intensity, with rich and intricate power chord structures and riffing like you might expect with Metallica and Slayer, and of course Lombardo's excellent drumming, who I hold in a class only shared with Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy. Chuck Billy's vocals are well-placed - singing at times, yelling at others, and using "death grunts" when appropriate. The album isn't blindingly fast all the time like you'd expect with some Slayer albums, but it is always powerful and driven. There is nothing cheesy here; these guys are musician's musicians and this album is a welcome addition to my thrash metal library.

There are very few albums I own in which I can confess that every song contributes to the album and is enjoyable, and The Gathering is one of them. Every fan of American thrash/power metal should have in his/her catalog at the minimum albums like Metallica's "Master of Puppets," Megadeth's "Peace Sells," Anthrax's "Among the Living," Slayer's "South of Heaven," and I would add Testament's "The Gathering. "

If you love American thrash/power metal, you owe it to yourself to snag a copy of Testament's "The Gathering. ".


The best Testament album period!!!!
These guys were a thrash band in the Eighties. I've Had all the testament albums and this is the best. The best one in my opinion. Then in the nineties they went through a stint of pure death metal(demonic,low).
then in 99'. they took the elements of the thrash combined with their death style and put out the gathering without skolnick(og) but peterson writes most the material anyway i believe. there is no way they could have improved on this album. style,production, art, direction. top 5 best metal albums ever and I listen to a bit of metal.


Awesome! fast, heavy, thrashy


While a very solid album overall - one of the best in the thrash metal genre, this time they had good production but as James Murphy rejoined the band a bit late, there weren't too many solos despite having a more than capable guitar duo. The gathering took the heaviness of demonic with the energy of the legacy.


You can see a complete list of all Testament discography, or go back to the Testament tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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