GMD Poll: Testament's Discography Ranked

[crimsonfloyd]

Directions: Rank Testament's 12 studio albums. Order and number each album 1-11. Ties are OK. Your first place album earns 11 points, your second place album earns 10 points, etc.

Rules:

• You may rank as few as 6 albums. Lists with less than 6 albums will not be counted.
• If you list less than 11 albums, the first placed album will still get 11 points, the last placed album will still get 1 point, and the albums in between will have points distributed proportionately. The average points earned for albums that are not listed will not be impacted positively or negatively, so if you don't rank an album, you neither help it or hurt it.
• You may not vote if you have fewer than 100 posts on the forum (The TechnicalBarbarity Rule)

At the end, the albums will be ranked based on their average number of points per vote.

You have until Saturday February 10th to finalize your list, re-familiarize yourself albums you haven’t heard in awhile, familiarize yourself with albums you haven’t heard at all, lobby for any albums you think are underrated, and lobby against any albums you think are overrated.

And please, no pseudo-Machiavelli shit. Just rank them as you see them.

The Legacy (1987)
The New Order (1988)
Practice What You Preach (1989)
Souls of Black (1990)
The Ritual (1992)
Low (1994)
Demonic (1997)
The Gathering (1999)
The Formation of Damnation (2008)
Dark Roots of Earth (2012)
Brotherhood of the Snake (2016)

 

[EspaDa]

1. The Legacy
2. Practice What You Preach

thanks for your attention

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

1 - The New Order
2 - The Legacy
3 - Practice What You Preach
4 - The Gathering
5 - Souls of Black
6 - Low
7 - Demonic
8 - The Formation of Damnation
9 - Dark Roots of Earth
10 - Brotherhood of the Snake
11 - The Ritual

i might switch around 8-10. Everything else is pretty much cemented

Spoiler

BTW FSSD is indeed a compilation, as every source and definition of that word that i linked here proved so. They are all re-recorded songs from previous albums. And by definition that is indeed a compilation album regardless of what a few of you might think. The shrinkwrap on that album even said "TESTAMENT COMPILATION" and the band will also tell you the same thing, as is indicated in their liner notes. When it was re-redcorded has absolute nothing to do with it being a compilation or not and not a single person here can prove otherwise. But you guys can continue to tell yourself whatever you want

https://rateyourmusic.com/wiki/Music:Release+types#Compilation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compilation_album
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/compilation-album
http://www.definitions.net/definition/COMPILATION ALBUM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Strike_Still_Deadly
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/testament-first-strike-still-deadly-to-be-reissued/
https://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Testament/First_Strike_Still_Deadly/260/

 

[HamburgerBoy]

1. The Legacy
2. Low
3. The New Order
4. Brotherhood of the Snake
5. The Gathering
6. Demonic
7. The Ritual
8. Practice What You Preach
9. Dark Roots of Earth
10. Souls of Black
11. The Formation of Damnation

Last four subject to change but those ones suck so I don't really care.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

I'm listening to Practice What You Preach right now and this album pretty much peaks with Perilous Nation. I like Alex Skolnick's guitar work on the album as well as the bass playing but the songs themselves are nowhere near as good as the previous two albums. It's definitely not their worst but it'll certainly be low on the list.

 

[Sirjack]

yeah testament never surpassed the energy and riffs of the first 2 imo. practise and souls were kinda pushing for a commercial bent really, and l remember calling them out when these albums were released back then. after that l lost interest.

 

[The Ozzman]

Testament only has 5 really good albums tbh:

The first two
The Gathering
Dark Roots of Earth
The Ritual

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I'm listening to Practice What You Preach right now and this album pretty much peaks with Perilous Nation. I like Alex Skolnick's guitar work on the album as well as the bass playing but the songs themselves are nowhere near as good as the previous two albums. It's definitely not their worst but it'll certainly be low on the list.

Perilous Nation is decent, but Nightmare is the one redeeming song imo.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

I'm listening to Practice What You Preach right now and this album pretty much peaks with Perilous Nation. I like Alex Skolnick's guitar work on the album as well as the bass playing but the songs themselves are nowhere near as good as the previous two albums. It's definitely not their worst but it'll certainly be low on the list.

are you joking? The best songs on that album come on the second half. Sins of Omission, Nightmare and Confusion Fusion are by far the best songs on there.

edit: typos

 

[Sirjack]

yeah i'd go with that

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

the only legitimately good song on The Ritual is Return to Serenity, and its a VERY good song. But that album is still the black sheep of their catalogue...


and regarding PWYP...

 

[HamburgerBoy]

So Many Lies alone puts it above the preceding two albums.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

I don't remember Low ever being worthy of being in the top 5, honestly. It just seemed all over the place.

 

[Krow]

wth? Actually it is a compilation, since it is completely compiled of songs from their previous albums. To even entertain the idea that its a legit album/full length is rather funny.

edit

fwiw, and I'm not really interested in dragging this out forever but a compilation is usually a release that consists of older releases together as one, I get that. But, that Testament album is all new recordings made specifically for that release. It's not the songs on the original releases. It sounds stupid but its basically the band doing a cover album of their older material. I dont actually get what the purpose of this kind of release is.

Here's the one Amorphis did, also considered a full length
https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Amorphis/Magic_&_Mayhem_-_Tales_from_the_Early_Years/281311

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I don't remember Low ever being worthy of being in the top 5, honestly. It just seemed all over the place.

It's all over the place in the sense that Horrorscope or Blind are, creative with a lot to offer without being remotely experimental. A nice blend of thrash and groove sprinkled with trad, death, and wank. I'd say it has their best songwriting in terms of breadth of ideas and hook writing, even though The Legacy still edges it out for its peaks and leads. Also far better produced than the first five.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

I don't remember Low ever being worthy of being in the top 5, honestly. It just seemed all over the place.

i have a soft spot for that album and think it was pretty cool. I'm not even gonnie lie, i listened to it for like 5 years straight when it came out and if we did this poll in the 90's it might have also cracked my top 3. Sure ranking it over The New Order is just plain blasphemy, but what im really having trouble with is understanding how on earth someone can Brotherhood and The Ritual over PWYP and SoB

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Regarding the compliation debate, it’s in the grey area. Compliations are usually a collection of 1. older songs and 2. older recordings. The album in question is 1, but not 2. The question is 1. by itself a sufficent condition or is 2. needed as well? I would say either interpretation is valid as the definitions don’t address this irregularity directly. Therefore, this whole debate is impossible to solve and will be a massive waste of time if it continues.

 

[CiG]

Therefore, this whole debate is impossible to solve and will be a massive waste of time if it continues.

This is the GMD!

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Regarding the compliation debate, it’s in the grey area. Compliations are usually a collection of 1. older songs and 2. older recordings. The album in question is 1, but not 2. The question is 1. by itself a sufficent condition or is 2. needed as well? I would say either interpretation is valid as the definitions don’t address this irregularity directly. Therefore, this whole debate is impossible to solve and will be a massive waste of time if it continues.

An album can be 2 without being 1. Posthumous/outtake compilations which collect unreleased songs aren't uncommon.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

An album can be 2 without being 1. Posthumous/outtake compilations which collect unreleased songs aren't uncommon.

Those would in all likelihood still be older recordings.