I've been visiting this board for a while now and I've seen a lot of arguing about these two albums and I really can see why some people dislike these albums and some other like them. I mean... these two are very different from the rest of Testament's material. Here is my view of these two albums
LOW:
I discovered Testament when I was 6 with Practice What You Preach and I had all their albums from The Legacy to The Ritual. I was very exited about the new Testament record that was about to come out (Low) Well... For me it was actually a shock and I have to admitt I hated it the first couple of times I heard it. The only good song for me was DFG. I thought the record was slow and the drum beats were always at the same tempo. Well that was to my untrained ear anyways
So I listened to it again and again. I found myself falling in love with Low, Chasing Fear and P.C. By then I was getting a bit fed up with the album and I took a break from it after about 3 or 4 months of extensive listening... Then it happened, I put it back in my cassette player cuz back then I had only cassettes And I saw how original and creative this album was. I paid more attention to the solos, paid more attention to the drums... SO all in all, I think this album has to grow on you and in order to appreciate it completly, you have to have a certain amount of what I call musical maturity because this album is much less easy on the ears than PWYP or SoB or, of course, The ritual. So I think it's just a matter of how deeply into music you are. I heard this album for the first time when I was 11 and started loving it at 14... In between I had learn to like other styles, learned more technical stuff about music in general... My final word on this album is that it's still on of their weakests for me but it kicks some major ass and this is only the old school thrash metal lover in me talking!!! (I still prefer a "over the wall-esque" riff to Hail Mary )
DEMONIC:
Well... I'll start by saying that I think this album is their weakest ... ummm... BY FAR their weakest. I don't say that because it's death metal cause I love Chuck's death voice! The thing that REALLY bothers me on this album is the riffs... They really don't get to me! Of course, there is Murky Waters, Hatred's Rise and JUN JUN that are some of Testament's best stuff but the rest of the album is rather plain. Another thing that really disapointed me is that I expected way more from Gene on that one! Low has better drums than Demonic with a drummer that is, compared to Gene, underrated. I don't mean that Gene is overrated but I expected more from him than what he delivered! Agreed, Testament's music isn't the style to go all technical but still... And this albums lacks solos... It's damn shame because I think it would have added more depth to the songs.
That said, here is what I think of the gathering
THE GATHERING
This album kicked my ass so bad that it's still aching when I hear DNR! This album has so many surprises that it's their most original to date. One of the first surprises is the drumming on DNR... I the middle part when Chuck goes "contemps in life...", there is a bit of drums that is so damn violent that it sounds like grind !!! It's the first time we heard something this brutal in Testament's music! My other surprise is that the lack of solos actually shines on this album. The songs are so fucking good that they are great without solos!! Addind a solo to DNR would have changed it's impact IMO. This album is a jewel.
I would like to read what you guys LOVE so much about Demonic... cuz I want to get into as much as you all
LOW:
I discovered Testament when I was 6 with Practice What You Preach and I had all their albums from The Legacy to The Ritual. I was very exited about the new Testament record that was about to come out (Low) Well... For me it was actually a shock and I have to admitt I hated it the first couple of times I heard it. The only good song for me was DFG. I thought the record was slow and the drum beats were always at the same tempo. Well that was to my untrained ear anyways
So I listened to it again and again. I found myself falling in love with Low, Chasing Fear and P.C. By then I was getting a bit fed up with the album and I took a break from it after about 3 or 4 months of extensive listening... Then it happened, I put it back in my cassette player cuz back then I had only cassettes And I saw how original and creative this album was. I paid more attention to the solos, paid more attention to the drums... SO all in all, I think this album has to grow on you and in order to appreciate it completly, you have to have a certain amount of what I call musical maturity because this album is much less easy on the ears than PWYP or SoB or, of course, The ritual. So I think it's just a matter of how deeply into music you are. I heard this album for the first time when I was 11 and started loving it at 14... In between I had learn to like other styles, learned more technical stuff about music in general... My final word on this album is that it's still on of their weakests for me but it kicks some major ass and this is only the old school thrash metal lover in me talking!!! (I still prefer a "over the wall-esque" riff to Hail Mary )DEMONIC:
Well... I'll start by saying that I think this album is their weakest ... ummm... BY FAR their weakest. I don't say that because it's death metal cause I love Chuck's death voice! The thing that REALLY bothers me on this album is the riffs... They really don't get to me! Of course, there is Murky Waters, Hatred's Rise and JUN JUN that are some of Testament's best stuff but the rest of the album is rather plain. Another thing that really disapointed me is that I expected way more from Gene on that one! Low has better drums than Demonic with a drummer that is, compared to Gene, underrated. I don't mean that Gene is overrated but I expected more from him than what he delivered! Agreed, Testament's music isn't the style to go all technical but still... And this albums lacks solos... It's damn shame because I think it would have added more depth to the songs.
That said, here is what I think of the gathering
THE GATHERING
This album kicked my ass so bad that it's still aching when I hear DNR! This album has so many surprises that it's their most original to date. One of the first surprises is the drumming on DNR... I the middle part when Chuck goes "contemps in life...", there is a bit of drums that is so damn violent that it sounds like grind !!! It's the first time we heard something this brutal in Testament's music! My other surprise is that the lack of solos actually shines on this album. The songs are so fucking good that they are great without solos!! Addind a solo to DNR would have changed it's impact IMO. This album is a jewel.
I would like to read what you guys LOVE so much about Demonic... cuz I want to get into as much as you all
