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Testament - The Gathering



8.7 | 958 votes |
Release date: 28 June 1999
Style: Bay Area thrash metal

Owners:

1180 have it
110 want it
2 trade it


01. D.N.R.
02. Down For Life
03. Eyes Of Wrath
04. True Believer
05. 3 Days In Darkness
06. Legions Of The Dead
07. Careful What You Wish For
08. Riding The Snake
09. Allegiance
10. Sewn Shut Eyes
11. Fall Of Sipledome
12. Hammer Of The Gods [bonus]

Top 20 albums of 1999: 6
Top 200 albums of all time: 144

Guest review by
amerislave
Rating:
9.8
In the late 90's a lot of thrash bands called it a day or tried to tailor there sound to accommodate the popular alternative rock craze (that hardly seems alternative does it?).

Testament was one of the glaring exceptions to that trend. Their albums got heavier as the decade progressed. "The Legacy", "The New Order" and "Practice What You Preach" are the early albums that you think the band could never top, but in 1999 Testament released their crowning achievement called "The Gathering".

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published 21.12.2008 | Comments (9)

Guest review by
Iron Nostarion
Rating:
8.6
When you come upon such an era that was in the midst of the fires of both revival attempts and modernization, it may occur to you as surprising that a band such as Testament - which was always the first to be affected by outer pressures - released what many fans consider as tying with their best works of all time.

Supporting Chuck and Eric on this album was perhaps an all-star lineup of '90s metal; you had the astounding James Murphy (Death, Obituary) on lead guitars, virtuoso Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Sadus) on bass and the wunderkind, well-known Dave Lombardo (Slayer) on drums. So, from an outer perspective, this looks like a ridiculously high-quality masterpiece, right? A bit wrong, I suppose, if you thought all the creativity of those three was mashed into one. With the support Chuck and Eric had, however, they just managed to fully plunge out the creative ideas they wanted to accomplish; which still resulted in a good output.

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published 16.05.2012 | Comments (4)

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Comments

Comments: 28   Visited by: 1490 users
11.06.2011 - 15:06
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
So if you give thrash metal a pair of balls this is what it sounds like eh?
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28.01.2012 - 17:15
Rating: 8
R'Vannith
ghedengi
Elite
I remember enjoying this album somewhat a while back, yet I don't recall it being this good. An 8 is starting to feel like an understatement.
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21.03.2012 - 00:54
Rating: 9
raymond2349
Heaviest testament album, and a great one!
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27.06.2012 - 01:58
danmc
Metal Pure!!!
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16.09.2012 - 13:53
Rating: 9
Wiillak
I've Listened it and didn't know Dave Played Drums on that.so I Listened so more Again..!!
\m/
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14.05.2013 - 15:35
Rating: 9
Dzidziafon
Kick ass! Model rhythm section.
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14.06.2013 - 01:16
LordHypnos
Account deleted
Is the bonus track worth listening?
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07.11.2013 - 22:10
Rating: 10
Yuros
For me, this is one of the most heaviest albums of all time.
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02.03.2014 - 19:51
Rating: 9
Reaper_Redeemer
This album is a bomb !!!
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27.04.2014 - 14:11
Rating: 10
_deepblack
This Is Thrash ..... fucking great album great riffs drums and vocals
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10.08.2014 - 19:56
Its quite good effort but its too noisy and without guitar melodies at all...
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02.09.2014 - 17:18
Rating: 8
Kuroboshi
Awesome thrash. Personally, can't stand the vocals though. Would be nice as an instrumental!
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24.03.2015 - 14:10
Rating: 8
I can't help but think that this album is a bit overrated. It's not bad by any means - quite the contrary - but like most of Testament's music, it just doesn't "reach" me. The sheer heaviness of the sound is certainly impressive, but the riffs tthemselves leave something to be desired, and I rarely find myself aghast with awesomeness. Another purely personal grievance is the lack of distinguishable basslines - as is too often the case, they are lost in the wall of sound - which is quite a waste of Steve Digiorgio's talent.

Highlights: "Riding the Snake", "Fall of Sipedome".
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26.07.2018 - 21:34
Rating: 6
metalriff
Written by MichaelAngeloT on 10.08.2014 at 19:56

Its quite good effort but its too noisy and without guitar melodies at all...

That's why I've always liked The New Order over The Gathering and The Legacy.
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30.07.2020 - 21:59
ickoriss
Their heaviest and best album. I love that this record hinges on death metal in several places.
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08.07.2021 - 23:13
Rating: 9
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
Contributor
This is my favourite Testament album! It's surely the heaviest Thrash Metal album I've ever listened to! It's actually bordering on Death Metal In parts!

The vocals are clean but much more aggressive than on earlier testament albums, the riffs are outstanding technically, and with plenty of melody, but much heavier and are speeded up even more, same with the excellent drumming, there is also some pretty good guitar solo's added in too.
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08.07.2021 - 23:31
Rating: 9
LordFezzington
Lost To Apathy
Written by AndyMetalFreak on 08.07.2021 at 23:13

This is my favourite Testament album!

Mine too. Remember hearing "Down For Life" and being instantly hooked. Absolutely love Chuck's vocals on this record and DiGiorgio and Lombardo are a rhythm section to die for - one of my favourite Lombardo performances. Eric Peterson really outdoes himself with the songwriting on this one. And legendary as Alex Skolnick might be, he isn't missed on this in the slightest.
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09.07.2021 - 01:56
Rating: 9
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
Contributor
Written by LordFezzington on 08.07.2021 at 23:31


Mine too. Remember hearing "Down For Life" and being instantly hooked. Absolutely love Chuck's vocals on this record and DiGiorgio and Lombardoț one. And legendary as Alex Skolnick might be, he isn't missed on this in the slightest.

This album really had a dream Line up, DiGiorgio and Lombardo were great additions to this album, two absolute legends in thrash metal! They performed perfectly well, and in sync with each other, and I agree with Chuck's vocals, this was one of his finest displays.
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27.07.2021 - 18:57
Rating: 8
X-13
A nice piece of killer death/thrash for me , it deserves an 8 at least . Brutal atmosphere
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28.07.2021 - 16:37
Rating: 9
nonZero
Written by X-13 on 27.07.2021 at 18:57

A nice piece of killer death/thrash for me , it deserves an 8 at least . Brutal atmosphere

Glad you enjoyed it!
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15.08.2021 - 18:44
Rating: 8
F3ynman
Nocturnal Bro
Contributor
Wow! What a line-up and what a performance by all players! This is so brutal and fast: a perfect mix of thrash and death metal!
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17.08.2021 - 13:12
gavdann
Although it has a great sound, great production and great performances, for me the songs just aren't as memorable as the ones from The Legacy so it'll never be as good.
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11.09.2021 - 18:16
Rating: 7
GrimReaper85
If Legacy is too quiet, this one is too god damn loud. And if on first song heavy sound is good, it quickly becomes too much.
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20.09.2021 - 07:28
Rating: 8
F3ynman
Nocturnal Bro
Contributor
Written by gavdann on 17.08.2021 at 13:12

Although it has a great sound, great production and great performances, for me the songs just aren't as memorable as the ones from The Legacy so it'll never be as good.

I also find The Legacy is their best, but The Gathering is also great (although I don't like the cover art for The Gathering)
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20.09.2021 - 13:27
Rating: 7
GrimReaper85
I simply don't like it.
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20.09.2021 - 13:32
JoHn Doe
Written by GrimReaper85 on 20.09.2021 at 13:27

I simply don't like it.

then how do you give it a rating of 7 which here on MS means "good album".
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21.09.2022 - 12:53
Rating: 9
nonZero
My second favourite Testament album after The New Order (9.4/10) and is certainly their heaviest!

9.2/10 for me - 'Eyes Of Wrath' is the standout song. Tracks 1-2, 4-5 and 8 are all also great. 'Careful What You Wish For' and 'Fall Of Sipledome' are the weakest songs.
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14.04.2023 - 16:10
A Real Mönkey
Ah the first great Testament album since the Legacy, and the last great album since.
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