431. Testament / The Gathering. 1999. 3.5/5

As a 1980’s thrash metal band progressing through the 90’s decade, Testament had found the going as tough as most of their peers in this regard. After the initial success of their first four albums, Testament had fought through the first half of the 90’s decade while going through their own metamorphosis. Original lead guitaring prodigy Alex Skolnick had moved on to expand his musical horizons away from thrash metal, while drummer Louie Clemente had joined him not long after. Several musicians filled in on drums and guitar on a temporary basis. The band then recorded their sixth album “Low” in 1994, a more diverse album with influences such as alternative, death metal, progressive and groove metal. Following this, founding bass guitarist Greg Christian also decided to leave the band. “Demonic”, released three years later, developed this sound further, pushing more into a death metal sound. Again however, members of the band continued to use the revolving door for the tour that followed, and then once again when the tour was completed.
Despite this, the remaining two original members of the band, vocalist Chuck Billy and guitarist Eric Peterson, pushed onwards. They brought back guitarist James Murphy, formerly of the bands Death and Obituary, and who had played on the “Low” album. They also recruited Murphy’s former bandmate Steve Di Giorgio on bass guitar and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo to complete a highly respected rhythm section for the recording of the new album.
In a 2010 interview, vocalist Chuck Billy described how the free flow of ideas between Dave Lombardo and Eric Peterson was the "key and secret" to the album's overall heavier sound in comparison to previous albums. While there is a continuation of the death metal sound here, there is also a mix of the band’s original thrash themes in the mix, which made for a positive outlook to the new album on its release, which became “The Gathering”.

As an album, the songs here can be categorised into two specific areas – the out and out more aggressive death metal tracks, where Chuck’s vocals reach the guttural growl that is one of the major characteristics of that genre of metal along with the groove of the guitars and drums, and the more typical Testament guise of thrash metal, where the vocals are more recognisable from the band’s early days, and the music is less toned down and more acceptable in the fast and bright tones that the early albums resided in. Both categories of songs here are terrific, don’t get me wrong there, but there is a line down the middle in regard to the style, and there is certainly more of the death metal scene here than the band’s original thrash roots.
On the thrash side, the opening track “D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)” is a beauty, kicking the album off in terrific tyle, fast and unabashed, with Chuck crushing hard with his vocals throughout. Ditto for the following track “Down for Life”, a song that could have come straight from those early albums, fast and thrashy guitars, terrific drumming from the master of speed Dave Lombardo, and Chuck’s vocals hitting right in the sweet spot. This is such an awesome song, no holds barred, and no time to rest to take a breath. Perfect Testament in the very best form.
“Eyes of Wrath” changes things up, Chuck’s vocals begin to descend into the growl, the tempo changes up slightly and the grind of the track begins. The slowing of the track, to the quiet pauses within, with the heavy riffing guitars, makes for a mood changer. “True Believer” and “3 Days in Darkness” carry on in the same direction musically, finding that groove and holding the pattern throughout out.
“Legions of the Dead” ramps things up again, thanks in the main to the amazing Dave Lombardo who just once again drums like no normal human can very hope to achieve. The speed that he operates on during this song is just incredible, and really makes this the track it is. It is inhuman. Lombardo is, and continues to be, the man here. This wakes up the guitaring body of Peterson and Murphy, who blaze along in synch. It’s another beauty, one of the best on the album. This is followed by “Careful What You Wish For”, that jumps into the upbeat tempo that Testament are renown for. If Chuck’s vocals here had been what they were like a decade earlier, this could have been mistaken for a track from that era of the band. “Riding the Snake” has more in the doom metal genre musically and vocally, certainly a couple of the riffs channel the doom genre, if not the usual doom tempo. “Allegiance” and “Sewn Shut Eyes” brighten up the album again, musically if not lyrically.
The album concludes with "Fall of Sipledome", where the band has reached the furthest point from the start of the album. That opening track had been the Testament most of us knew from the early days. “Fall of Sipledome” has Chuck at his death metal vocal best, down in the very lowest recesses of his vocal chords, while Lombardo again drives the song beyond the 300 miles per hour speed limit. The bookend songs of the album showcase where Testament had been and where they had arrived at. It has been an interesting journey, to say the least.

Around the time that this album was released, I was moving more towards the European power metal scene for my heavy metal fix. That came about more because of the arrival of nu metal and groove metal mainly from the US, and was not something that was finding a place for me. Early Testament I had enjoyed, and I had gotten a copy of the “Low” album from a mate around this time as well, but as it turned out getting around to listen to “The Gathering” didn’t happen for another 18 months or so.
There was a period in the early 2000’s where it seemed cool for some to write off Testament’s early albums and concentrate on the development of albums such as “Low” and “Demonic” as the better style for the band. I was not especially one of those people, choosing to enjoy both eras separately.
Like I said, nu metal was the main attraction around this time, and yet Testament came out and stuck to the direction they knew and wanted to play, and pretty much showed that they could still produce an album the equal of anything else at that time. This may not have sold the same number of albums as those other bands such as Limp Bizkit et al were doing, but musically they just stood their ground and they kept producing that they knew they wanted to, and it was (in that day) a modern triumph.
When I did first get the album, I was slightly ambivalent about it. Some of the songs were a bridge too far for me in my music tastes at the time, while other songs I found terrific. One thing that was obvious was that Dave Lombardo once again had triumphed on an album he had played on. He is the undoubted star of this album, his drumming is simply superb.
Having dragged this out again after a prolonged period over the past two weeks, I have found that I enjoy the album as a whole more now than I remember doing so when I first got it. That probably comes from having listened to more bands with this style of music in that period of time than I had before this album was released. Given that it has been such a long time since I listened to this album, you can safely assume that it usually the early albums, or indeed the latter albums of the reformed band that I go for when I want a Testament fix. Having dived back in here though, I doubt that it will be such a long period of time before I dust this album off again.