Testament - First Strike Still Deadly (Burnt Offerings/Spitfire)
I always viewed Testament as being always in the shadow of Metallica (from
their 1980's era). The fact that I was skeptical in buying this release was
due to mainly their poorly produced first 2 releases ("The Legacy" & "The
New Order"). The fact that they decided to give their audience a
re-recording of their best selected first and second album releases plus a
track off of "Return To The Apocalyptic City" was a triumphant shock.
The D-tuned guitars, pounding drum, and vocals of Chuck Billy (Steve Souza
is featured on tracks 10 & 11) make Testament's re-recording a milestone in
my opinion. So what is all the hype about since it isn't anything new here
they're trying to cash in on this you might be asking. I say it isn't hype
and it isn't cashing in but rather re-establishing themselves as Thrash
Metal pioneers. They have never cashed in I don't think this was EVER the
case.
You still may be asking "if they are to you in Metallica's shadow then why
is this release given so much praise?". Well, to put it bluntly Testament
always stayed true to their Thrash Metal roots and never compromised their
musical style for the sake of what the world thinks or determines what they
SHOULD sound like. Just as in my opinion Slayer as an example said during an
interview back in 1985 which was "We're never going to change our style of
music."
All of the riffs, even though they are in D-tuning as opposed to the
original work which was in standard guitar tuning (E) they sound much
heavier like a chainsaw so to speak (or buzz saw for a better analogy). They
did their justice in re-recording (I can't repeat this enough!) these songs
because they wanted I think to be respected and admired once again as being
die hard Thrash Metal pioneers till death.
Rating: 10/10.