Testament - "The Gathering" (Spitfire)

Someone might have told Testament long ago that it was powerfully uncool for an '80s thrash band to cling to life in the '90s, survive crippling and constant lineup changes and up the ante in modern heaviness with each ferocious release. If so, it certainly hasn't made a damn difference to Messrs. Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson, the indestructible vocal/guitar tandem who've piloted the Testament helm through murky waters for nearly 15 years.

That Testament has thus far failed to garner deserved recognition as a pioneering heavy act is frightening, considering the derivative, overhyped Korns and Limp Bizkits that saturate the scene and typically get the most publicity. But The Gathering is merely another milestone in Testament's evolving quest to shred ears and tap the energies of sick, brutal music—they mutate and destroy with finesse, if that word has any meaning in a genre whose history began with a band called Black Sabbath and since striven to write the book on violence in all its forms.

Put bluntly, this collection (the Bay Area outfit's eighth studio album, with lead guitarist James Murphy back in the fold) slays in every glorious way. The Gathering unifies and consolidates the hair-raising strain of death thrash begun on 1997's Demonic, which found vocalist Billy churning out low-end growls like an old pro and humiliating every other half-wit death act in the business. Cuts on The Gathering spin faster, definitely, and smoke grooves the way Demonic, as a death/doom hybrid, was not built for, and the morph is nothing short of electrifying: 11 distinctly unique numbers covering power thrash to multi-tempoed, creeped-out death rock, and all points in between.

Monster drum chops (as evidenced by the effortless and orgasmic double-bass fire that pervades cuts such as "Legions Of The Dead") come courtesy of ex-Slayer legend Dave Lombardo, who plays here with a gleeful abandon he seems to have forsaken on his lackluster Grip Inc. outings. Peterson anchors the strangely euphonic creation, lending simple, enormous melody to songs that need no pretentious riffage to absolutely flatten the listener.

And Billy sits astride it all, churning out a roiling cacophony of discordant sound from his versatile lungs: witness the cackling dementia he brings to the steam-rolling "Three Days In Darkness," or the noisome rumblings he layers over the urgent main riff to "Fall Of Sipledome". Each song snaps and crackles with limitless energy, exhibiting not one ounce of compositional fat. A fabulous, intensely dark offering—if you weren't sure Testament could outdo the sinister pulse of Demonic, you will be after one listen to this outstanding release. A late-breaking nominee for best metal album of the year.

Reviewed by: Jay Rajiva