The Formation of Damnation

I have planned on doing this review ever since the album was released but for some reason I just never got around to it. So finally about two weeks ago I decided to sit down and give the album a really good listen and do the review. I mention the two week span simply because I ran into another problem that stopped me from getting this review done. As much as I LOVED this album when it first came out when I went to review it I realized that it just isn't very good.

This is VERY hard for me to say since Testament is one of my all time favorite bands. Don't get me wrong the album isn't horrible but the best way for me to put it is simply...forgettable. There are some pretty good tracks here and there but nothing that really holds your attention after you reach the end of the disc. I have to say however if this was any other band I would not be near as hard on it. There really isn't one thing that I can point to as to say this is why the album fails. One of Testament's trademarks is just absolutely killer riffs and although a couple of tracks give a hint of this, overall they are missing. The leads by Skolnick, which I thought would be incredible, are just all over the place. The songwriting overall just seems forced.....like they were trying to put ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag. Bad analogy I know but that is the difficulty in reviewing this album. I mean this album is good I guess but certainly NOT Testament good.

I cannot in good conscience recommend this album. All I can say is if you buy this disc and you listen to it for the first time you will think I am complete moron. Just don't blame me when you put it on the shelf and don't touch it again.