JUSTIN’S METAL REVIEWS 28/4/08

 

TESTAMENT / THE FORMATION OF DAMNATION

 

Nuclear Blast records seem to have the Thrash Metal market sew up when it comes to classic Thrash bands with Anthrax, Exodus, and Death Angel on the their roster, (the latter 2 of which have both had good albums out in last six moths) and now they are joined by the mighty Testament.

 

Its been nearly 10 years since “The Gathering” came out, so they have had plenty of time to write some fantastic songs and that is just what they’ve done, this is possibly the best album they have ever done, it always puzzled me why these guys were not as big as Metallica, musically they were similar in their formative years and certainly better than Metallica’s recent output.  All the songs are absolutely top notch, mixing their old and new styles, this is Testament at their very best, you just cant fault tracks like “More Than Meets The Eys” or “The Evil Has Landed”, four of the 5 original members are in the band and joind by ex Anthrax man Paul Bostaph. 

 

This is positive proof that Thrash Metal is still viable in the 21^st century and albums like this prove that this is not just a bandwagon jumping, flash in the pan, listen out for “The Persecuted Wont Forget”, “F.E.A.R” and “The Killing Season”, all of which will become Modern Tharash classics, this album is going to be hailed as a Classic in the very near future, Thrash Rules.  You have to get the digpack with the free DVD.

 

WEBSITE      http://www.testamentlegions.com/ & http://www.nuclearblast.de/

 

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 49 misn + 11 THRASHING TRACKS

 

KING’S X / XV

 

After ZZ Top, King’s X have got to be the best loved band to come out of Texas, I’ve been a fan of theirs since I heard “Out Of The Silent Planted” way back in 1988 and the thing that stuck me was, 1 their unique sound and 2 their ability to write very good songs and thankfully there is no change here on that one.

 

Its almost impossible not to like their melodic filled almost poppy songs, they know how to Rock with the best of them but for King’s X, dynamics are the king, being a 3 piece they are not afraid to let the sparseness shine through and that make the hoarier passages seem even heavier, theyalso have a real knack of being able to make social comment without preaching.  There is not one bad track on this CD and because both Ty Tabor and Doug Pinnock write and sing you have the styles that compliment each other for example listen to Ty sing “Julie” and Doug sing “Alright” and this is the bands strength and why they are so loved.

 

This is another fine album from a very unique band; just one thing puzzles me why is the album called XV (15) as they have been around for 20 years, this is their 12th studio album 14 in total and there are only 14 tracks, maybe they are just messing with my head.  Listen out for: “Blue”, “Rocket Ship”, “Move” and “Pray”.  If you haven’t heard of these guys before do yourself a favour and buy this CD and like their song says, if you like what you hear “Go Tell Somebody”.

 

WEBSITE      http://www.kingsxrocks.com

 

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 54 mins + 14 TRACKS