Search - Testament :: Gathering

The best Testament album period!!!!

dustinbagz | Ne usa | 08/29/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've Had all the testament albums and this is the best. These guys were a thrash band in the Eighties. 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."

An unexpected treat

djdjdjdjdjdj9 | Wisconsin | 03/26/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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. Well-produced and executed metal is important to me. 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.""

Reborn again from the ashes! with new life and old friends

04/10/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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.proving they can be unstoppible when they put their minds to it.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."