Awesome Music: Special note for "The Legacy" from Souls of Black, and the entirety of The New Order; especially "Musical Death (A Dirge)."
Broken Base: Downplayed, but there are some scattered examples especially throughout The '90s.
First Strike Still Deadly; some people like the heavier sound it has compared to the original versions of the songs, while others feel it's very unpolished and lacked the "oomph" the older recordings had.
Souls Of Black for its rushed production.
The Ritual for its hard rock leanings.
Low for its slightly slower tempos and darker groove metal sound.
Demonic for its mid-paced groove/death metal style.
Even The Gathering gets this, to some extent, due to the band's unstable lineup at the time.
Even Better Sequel: The New Order proved to be more successful than the band's iconic debut album, The Legacy. A stronger track listing sure helped matters as well.
Dark Roots Of Earth has also been seen as this, compared with The Formation Of Damnation.
First Installment Wins: Opinion on the band after The New Order varies greatly from person to person, but many agree that the first two albums especially the second can be considered Awesome Music
Heartwarming Moments: "Afterlife" from The Formation Of Damnation is a heartfelt tribute to Chuck's late father. Anybody who's had a father pass away in their lifetime will definitely relate to this song.
Funny Moments: Demonic, of all albums, ends with one. The final song on Testament’s darkest and heaviest album is “Nostrovia”note the Russian word for “Cheers”, a one and a half minute long song that’s nothing but... Chuck and Eric smashing wine glasses and shouting the song’s title in fake Russian accents, over an incredibly heavy guitar riff.
Seasonal Rot: Titans of Creation was generally panned as a phoned-in, uninspired album on release by fans and critics alike, and the general consensus seems to be that it's modern Testament by numbers with way too many mid-paced tracks and anemic songwriting, and has the feel of an album that was written just to have something to tour on.
Practice What You Preach was this compared to The New Order. Although it was more commercially successful, it didn't have the same critical acclaim as its predecessor and had a weaker track listing.
Brotherhood of the Snake was this compared to Dark Roots of Earth. Although it's just as heavy as its predecessor, Dark Roots set the standard for any Testament album that comes after it.
Win Back the Crowd: Testament has seen a resurgence of popularity after Chuck Billy's victory over cancer and a string of unsuccessful albums. The Formation of Damnation was released in 2008 and was met with positive reception from the fanbase. The album has one of the band's most played songs live in the form of "More Than Meets the Eye" which made a video game cameo in Brütal Legend. Dark Roots of Earth followed that album and proved to be even more successful, peaking at #12 on the Billboard 200 spawning iconic songs such as "Rise Up", "True American Hate" and "Native Blood".
