The Very Best Of Testament…And My Shame
January 21, 2008 by Scott
Friday I stopped by a record store on my way home from work and couldn’t really find anything to feed my hunger for something new. I decided to buy Danzig 2 again because mine got scratched to hell years ago. After that, something in my head said “Testament“. I have never been a big Testament fan, honestly because I just never made the effort to listen to them. They were one of those bands that I didn’t have a great interest in.
When I was younger I picked up Return To The Apocalyptic City on cassette tape. This was well after CDs were a big things and I think I picked it up on discount anyway. I probably listened to it a handful of times. Perhaps this wasn’t the best…ok, this obviously wasn’t the best Testament record to start out with because it was short, it had live tracks and it was a cassette in the age of CD’s.
So, back to the story. The only CD they had at the record store (it’s a small one) was The Very Best Of Testament. I’m quite ashamed as well as I’m sure a lot of you are going to tell me that I should be, that I have been missing out for so long on Testament. People would say to me “Do you like Testament”, and I’d simply reply, “Never got into them”. This is crazy because a long time friend of mine is into them big and he turned me onto a lot of the bands I like now…but never Testament.
Long story short. Testament kicks ass and I should have been listening to them long ago. Here is a quick review of The Very Best Of Testament…It’s awesome. I can’t wait to pick up some more Testament and see what their new release has to offer.
Souls Of Black, dude. Get it soon – great album.
Shame on you for having a The Mars Volta fan tell you that, too.
LOL…thanks! I’ll check it out real soon.
Dude. Souls of Black is Awesome… If you’re looking for good/early Testament, get The New Order…if you’re looking for what Testament sounds like now, check out The Gathering. Both absolutely amazing and intense albums… and if for nothing else The Gathering has Dave Lombardo and James Murphy on it.
M
Morgan, Did you receive the Headbangers Companion yet?
I beg to differ…Souls of Black ( IMHO) was probably the worst of the Testament ablums. Get Practice What You Preach. that was the consumate Testament album. Great grooves, lots of energy. Souls of Black starts strong but quickly fall apart for the last several tracks. Other then the title track and the legacy ( testaments greatest ballad ever ) nothing else on this album really stands out. Also, the album they released after the Ritual, called Low, was pretty hella good too.
Yeah I did! Sorry
Just got it a couple days back, still haven’t had the pleasure to jam it yet, but i’m pretty stoked to listen to it 
Thanks so much once again!
M
I’ve found them to be pretty repetative, but the first album is pretty good. Great singer, mediocre songs.
I was a big tiem Testament fan, and had The Ritual, Souls.. and Practice… This last one was their top, since I was sort of turned off by anything that came after this. So I recommend you start with this one now that you have the compilation. I love your blog, man, I’m starting to dust off all my old metal CD’s thank to it (I’m 36).
Thanks Juan. I appreciate your input. Writing on this site has made me dust off a lot of my old stuff as well and discover a lot of things I’ve been missing.