I dig 'em all, but Testament reigns supreme.
Older Exodus albums, even back then, had a fair amount of cheese going on in terms of lyrics and especially the vocal delivery. I still cringe at the end of Impact is Immenent where he's like "...uh, right," and the cheesy laughs here and there. I think Steve Souza really held them back during those early years, because they did have the heaviest riffs and crunchiest distortion. Their albums didn't seem to stand the test of time; I'd really like to add their first few to my collection again (had them on tape), but it's almost more appealing to check out new stuff, or to get their new stuff even. Don't forget they lost it for about ten years following Impact, until Tempo.
Overkill started out (well, maybe not that early in their career) with their guitarist basically trying as hard as he could to be James Hetfield, even going so far as to wear tapered black jeans, have the same hair, and carry a white explorer in the Hello From The Gutter video (talk about posing). Since Metallica was king back then, it worked (for me as well, and I really dig their first few). Despite the drastic change in sound from their beginnings, I actually think Horrorscope was their high point (but from their early days, Taking Over). Soon after that, they went through so many guitarists that they never really got a sound. Just Blitz singing over the same type of riffs. To this day, I still don't know what it means to be "Wide F-ing Open." Him and DD are the band, but that's not enough in my book to call a long lasting band. I've borrowed more recent albums from my buddy, and they just don't stick; great production, but only worth one spin for me.
Testament had the best first album, with The Legacy (which has stood the test of time), and only had one flub, which was The Ritual (at least it was back then, but I need to give it a try these days). Chucks vocals (and even more importantly, vocal hooks) are superior to the other two bands, but Blitz is second. Testament kept it true pretty much the whole time, didn't pose, and didn't really copy others too much (although I do think Practice is a bit of a copy album of And Justice for All in terms of concept; and the solo for The Ballad is a direct ripoff of Crazy Train's solo, but I digress). They had the best leads courtesy of Scholnick, and the best comeback album, with The Gathering (which is one of metal's finest works). True, they'e had some lineup changes, but they at least kept the core group going, even after all these years.
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