Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Testament - The Formation of Damnation (2008)

When I hear about "ultimate" comeback albums, in all honesty I am usually underwhelmed.  Former glory is often one moment in history that is nigh on impossible to achieve again, even for the most established and talented musicians out there.  With line up changes and the health of Chuck Billy thankfully only temporarily taking a downturn, Testament were still away from new material for nearly a decade.  After The Gathering (which I am not a fan of) we saw compilations and live albums aplenty before the reunited line-up that saw Skolnick and Christian back in the fold finally put out a studio album, and for once this comeback opus was actually pretty impressive.

Capturing a younger and instantly captivating energy from the opening bars of the intro, The Formation of Damnation truly does display a band who have found their funk again.  Seemingly having lost none of their vigour for vicious thrashing metal here we find a hungry sounding band really working out any kinks with a show of stylish muscianship borne out of renewed friendships and a period of unease.  The partnership of Peterson and Skolnick has arguably never sounded as strong as it does here and most certainly this is not only a great return to form, it is possibly also Testament's last great album outright.  Consistency really is the champion of the day here as whilst there is no real variation in style across the eleven tracks on show here, there is also no drop in quality or infection of the dreaded filler either.

I would like more solos (I am old school like that) but what few I do hear are more than competent enough.  Similarly I would like a little less mud on the drum mix, especially considering the recruitment of the excellent Paul Bostaph for this album, I feel he is somewhat short-changed despite putting in his usual level of wonder on the skins.  Chuck as ever sounds strong as an ox and carries much of this sense of youthful energy in his vocals for me which (as always) are the piece of the album I remember the most.  If I was a "list" person as so many of the other regulars at Metal Academy and I had a "Top Ten Comeback Records", this record would be in there most definitely.  However, in the absence of a consistent inner nerd I will simply say that this a great thrash metal album and a superb comeback release to boot.