GMD Poll: Testament's Discography Ranked

[Omni]

Personally, I think that Testament seems to recognize First Strike Still Deadly as a compilation, since their initial plan was to remix the original versions of those tracks to give them a more modern sound, but they described it as being "politically impossible" due to the different entities who hold publishing rights for the original recordings. The decision to actually record the songs again was reached only due to those difficulties.

I do not agree that releases which consist entirely of new versions of older songs are automatically compilations, but ultimately a band determines the category of their own releases unless a record label owns the rights to the recordings and can do as they please.

 

[CiG]

Really enjoying Souls of Black right now.
It has a real massive sound that for me is an improvement over Practice What You Preach.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

yea there are a bunch of Testament fans who REALLY love that album.

edti: Check this out, not the best piece but whatever ...
https://tshirtslayer.com/other-collectable/testament-souls-black-amateur-tattoo-1993

 

[CiG]

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

Re: Low and Demonic - the devolution of thrash metal into generic bro extreme metal in the 1990's is one of the more embarrassing things to survey in metal. Holy Christ.

2. Low

8. Practice What You Preach

10. Souls of Black

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Souls of Black, massive sound? You must have some remaster or something, my copy sounds like trash and one of the songs in particular is even full of recording errors. It used to be one of my favorites but after listening to the Testament discography dozens of times it and PWYP were quickly obvious to recycle ideas and stick within a narrow range of tempos.

How is Low generic?

EDIT: fwiw I wouldn't say any of Testament's first four have a massive sound, they're all pretty wimpy on the production side of things.

 

[CiG]

A mish-mash of whatever was poppin' off in the heavy 90's circles.

It sounds like a combination of Pantera, Metallica, Soundgarden and Rob Zombie or something.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Testament were never exactly pioneers. All you managed to do was list off four of the most popular metal bands of the time period and post a song that sounds nothing like any of them.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

neither of those two albums are bad imo

 

[CiG]

Chuck seemed to change his vocals based on whoever was popular at the time too, kind of weird. One moment he sounds like Hetfield, the next he's roaring like a fat Slipknot fan.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

... because he's versatile as fuck. One of the best thrash metal vocalists ever.

 

[CiG]

He's okay. The New Order is fucking fantastic though.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

name me some of the more well known thrash vocalists that you think can sing better?

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Chuck seemed to change his vocals based on whoever was popular at the time too, kind of weird. One moment he sounds like Hetfield, the next he's roaring like a fat Slipknot fan.

He only really went heavy on Hetfield on those shit 89/90 albums you like so much. Can you recommend me some fat Slipknot fan metal?

 

[Talos of Atmora]

name me some of the more well known thrash vocalists that you think can sing better?

Mike Sanders (Toxik)
Flemming Rönsdorf (Artillery)
Bobby Ellsworth (Overkill)

Just a few examples. That said, I appreciate that Chuck mixes it up in his delivery.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

no one you linked has a more versatile voice or has a wider range. But i'm not arguing if you say you prefer them. Chuck can do just about everything, those guys cant.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

no one you linked was a more versatile voice or has a wider range. But i'm not arguing if you say you prefer them. Chuck can do just about everything, those guys cant.

I just think they're great thrash vocalists in general.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

i totally agree

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Chuck Billy has a modest singing range at best. Particularly obvious with all those paddycake vocal melodies on The Legacy.

 

[CiG]

name me some of the more well known thrash vocalists that you think can sing better?

It's not a case of better or worse technically speaking, I'm just not huge on his different styles.

He only really went heavy on Hetfield on those shit 89/90 albums you like so much.

Not really, he sounds like Hetfield on the debut too.

Can you recommend me some fat Slipknot fan metal?

Slipknot.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

he sounds like Hetfield on the debut? Hetfield actually sings?