Well I guess the fashion around the metal scene these days goes for releasing old stuff or re-recording old stuff : Kiss - The Collection Set Box 1966 - 1999, Iced Earth - Dark Genesis, Virgin Steele - The Book Of Burning, Powergod - Bleed For The Gods, Monstrosity - Enslaving The Masses ... and now here comes Testament, who decided to also "revisit" its two first nuclear attacks. We are talking of course of The Legacy & The New Order albums, two records that will be forever recognized as a turning point in the history of thrash metal.

The good things here is the production, as these two albums were recorded back in 1987 & 1988. The line-up is almost the same it was at that time, plus ex-singer of Exodus (Steve Souza) for two tracks ... and the songs on First Strike Still Deadly are as good as before, if not better thanks to the enormous and powerful new sound.

What else can I possibly tell you about Testament ?

They have inspired the whole Scandinavian death/thrash scene (as did Slayer of course), they never turned their back to thrash metal (who said Metallica ?) ... and if you listen carefully to Iced Earth, you will discover as I did that Jon Schaffer is fan of Testament. A part that, The Legacy and The New Order will be reviewed in our classic section in due time.

If you still don't know this band ... you are a lucky guy, as Testament is simply the best US thrash metal band, the father of At The Gate, The Haunted, In Flames, Soilwork, Witchery, Raise Hell... and deserve your attention, hoops sorry, your "wake up" !!!. Check by the way there last record, The Gathering, a killing must have record !!!

Last but not least, there is a "bonus" track for the die-hard fans of Testament out there ... called Reign Of Terror. This song was in fact the title-track of Testament's first demo of The Legacy ...