how did i not catch that before??

Your meme is bad........and you should feel bad.

Testament has been awesome again since 1999, and Iced Earth has sucked since 2004.

Just heard it and died a little inside. It sounds like modern Groove Metal Annihilator, right down to Dave Padden's vocal approach. >< I'm REALLY iffy about this one now...

Okay, that's simply not true. You may not like it, but it's definitely not "groove metal." This track isn't representative of that style at all. It's just generic thrash, which doesn't mean the same thing.

It sounds great really,the lyrics are dull but i didn´t expected something better at this point.Musically they deliver,Testament is one of my favorites,is great to know that they will not dissapoint.This year has been good for thrash,bot Kreator and Overkill slayed.

Not a bad tune but I don't like the chorus at all. I'll give the rest of the album a chance.

The leads are absolutely fantastic. I also don't care much for the chorus, though.

I'm not going to lie. I love Testament, even Formation. But this one blows and the chorus sounds cheesy as hell. Well, not surprising for such stupid lyrics to come from a guy who believes in American Exceptionalism.

A second track up for listen, entitled 'Native Blood', here: http://media.nuclearblast.de/bands/Splash/testament/droe/index.html

This is really bad... If this is the "new" Testament then I won't be getting it!

totally awesome track...testament never fails!

Eh, wasn't that bad I guess. Both tracks just sound like they could have been on Formation, so who knows. Probably won't be anything special.

Last three posts:

-It's shit!
-It's gold!
-It's something!

Well it is, if nothing else, polarizing.

+1

This is looking more and more like an album I'll be skipping. The blasts in the chorus, while an interesting idea, could have been more effective if broken up by a fill or something here and there between phrases or measures. I applaud the band for incorporating more of them into their songs and why not when you have Gene Hoglan, but they just sound so awkwardly used in the couple of songs they've released.

The riffs are alright, more intelligible than in True American Hate and sound somewhere in the range of Practice... / Souls. Those lyrics though, just... Chuck, you tackled this already on Trail of Tears, and in much more poignant fashion. I got it, it's an issue that close to him and a stain on American history, but I'm third-generation born myself. The "white guilt" thing is hard to relate to when my grandparents emigrated to escape the Holodomor. It's quite apparent now that Del James had a huge part in writing lyrics on the albums he was credited for.

The only other thrash album of note I can think of that might be coming out this year is Destroy from Warbeast which just wrapped recording today and is going to be solid, if not revolutionary by any means. Voivod's a given too, before I completely forget, and most welcome. Destruction, Viking (whom Gene recorded drums for late last year,) Rigor Mortis, Evildead, Wrath, Powermad, Hirax, Razormaze, and a couple of others that I can't remember are supposedly working on material but who knows if / when they'll be out or any good.

In my book, Overkill have more or less stolen the show as far as thrash-albums are concerned this year, but I'd imagine Testament's album will be at least reasonably solid - The song is quite decent.

Also, Good to see a Razormaze mention - I keep forgetting that they're doing an album. I feel they've got a bit of work to do before they stop sounding "amateur" as it were, but when they do, they're going to be a formidable thrash-revival act.

Eeeeeh..... Heard Native Blood. Didn't think much of it. That was indeed quite pedestrian, and it contrasts a lot with True American Hate, which I thought of as very good. That certainly felt like a mediocre tune with awesome leads thrown in (and wasted, as such solos deserve a much better song). Also, I agree with ModusOperandi about the fact that the Native American themes were touched upon in a much more endearing manner in Low's Trail of Tears. We're yet to see..... I'll really like the album if most of it happens to be like True American Hate, but if it sticks more to Native Blood's style..... Then I don't think I'll be buying it any time soon.

There is not much Thrash Metal in any of the two revealed songs. Some riffs here and there, some vocal melodies and drumming. The material is the same old groove/thrash fusion they have been doing for a while.

Agreed. One to knock off the shopping list then...

Meh, Native Blood sounds boring to me. Some decent leads, but very forgettable and flaccid other than that. I somewhat liked True American Hate, as that seemed to be at least energetic and whatnot, but this was just snooze-inducing.

The album's out!!!!

Just ordered it on Amazon. It had better not be shite.

I never realized how much Chuck Billy sounds like James Hetfield before...until now. A lot of Metallica/Megadeth in this bands veins, at least so far on this album I can't hep but think that.

my wife said the same thing the first time she heard Testament. Said he sounds like a much improved version of Hetfield.

Just listened to 90% of it and it sounds a bit like Low to me. My only complaint is Cold Embrace is too long.

Listened to a good portion of this and I can dig it. I don't think it's quite at the level of Low or The Gathering but I'll be getting a copy when it comes out.

The album is pretty much the exact thing I was expecting: A solid, professional slab of thrash metal, played by veterans who know what they are doing.

The two +6min tracks caught me by surprise, but they work really well.

It's not going to rival The Electric Age for thrash album of the year, but I can't see why anybody would consider this to be a disappointment. Sure it's nothing spectacular, but it's got plenty of good riffs and is fun to listen to.

Having listened to it, any pessimism I had has been somewhat dissolved. It's a pretty damn splendid album - a good follow up to The Formation of Damnation. Some of it sounds a bit re-hashed, but sort of charmingly so.

About half-way through, I sort of had an epiphany - I still fucking love Testament.