The Gathering (Testament Album)
| The Gathering | ||||
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| Testament studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Burnt Offerings, USG, Spitfire | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
42:42 |
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Eric Peterson, Chuck Billy, Andy Sneap |
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Studio (s) |
Driftwood Studios, Oakland, California |
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The Gathering is the eighth studio album by the American thrash metal band Testament . It is the last record with new tracks before the album The Formation of Damnation 2008. It was released in June 1999 on the band's own label Burnt Offerings . After the album Demonic , which had strong Death Metal influences, the band on The Gathering became a bit more melodic and Thrash-oriented again, although some Death Metal-like vocals are used. As on Low , James Murphy played lead guitar. The drummer is now Dave Lombardo instead of the previous Gene Hoglan .
History of origin
Drummer Gene Hoglan, who recorded the album, had left the band before the South America part of the Demonic tour. "On a beer whim," Eric Peterson had called Dave Lombardo. Although he had no time for these upcoming concerts, he played The Gathering after a few jam sessions , during which songs were also created. Eric Peterson was mainly responsible for the music. James Murphy could not participate in the songwriting , as he was previously busy with his second solo album Feeding the Machine . However, he was only approached after its completion. Together with the new bassist Steve DiGiorgio ( Sadus ), who replaced the original member Derrick Ramirez, who was brought back for Demonic , he has now become a permanent member of the band. Murphy helped out with his recording equipment, which allowed the band to invest six weeks in a comparatively cheap studio. Mixing was done by Andy Sneap , who worked for Machine Head , for example .
The album title The Gathering refers to the fact that Testament mixes elements of their different creative phases with one another on the record. Hammer of the Gods was recorded as the twelfth track that did not initially appear on the album . It appeared on the Japan version , among other things . Even The Gathering appeared like its predecessor on the band's own label Burnt Offerings , this time, however, was working with the company USG, in Europe, the record was released on the label Spitfire . The album was followed by an American and European tour, Dave Lombardo was not part of the latter, Gene Hoglan played for him again in the meantime. For a second European tour in 2000, Lombardo was available again.
Texts
Chuck Billy's lyrics on The Gathering , which on three tracks, as on previous albums, were written with the help of professional songwriter Del James , mainly deal with personal experiences. Down for Life is about his friends' drug problems, Allegiance is about people who betrayed him. DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) refers to Chuck's father who stated prior to an operation that he did not want to be resuscitated. The family managed to resuscitate them when necessary. Legions of the Dead , a track similar to COTLOD ( Curse of the Legions of Dead ) on The Legacy , is the only lyrical contribution from Eric Peterson on this album, a classic splatter text that is about the undead and Peterson's passion for horror. Issues originates.
reception
In the rock-hard magazine Frank Albrecht called The Gathering “a real board” and “an all-round successful Thrash package”. The band doesn't just rely on the old school, but doesn't just follow the “zeitgeist” either. He awarded nine out of ten points. On whiskey-soda.de , the reviewer counted the record among the "three best ... that the band has released since 1987". On allmusic .com, Jason Hundey referred the album title to the coming together of outstanding musicians on this album, which contained "pure focused aggression" and showed the band as a "complete, well-oiled music machine". The rating was four and a half out of five possible stars.
Track list
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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- DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) - 3:34 (Eric Peterson, Chuck Billy)
- Down for Life - 3:23 (Eric Peterson, Chuck Billy)
- Eyes of Wrath - 5:26 (Eric Peterson, Chuck Billy, Del James)
- True Believer - 3:36 (Eric Peterson, Derrick Ramirez, Chuck Billy, Del James)
- 3 Days in Darkness - 4:41 (Eric Peterson, Chuck Billy, Del James)
- Legions of the Dead - 2:37 (Eric Peterson)
- Careful What You Wish For - 3:30 (Eric Peterson, Dave Lombardo, Chuck Billy, Del James)
- Riding the Snake - 4:13 (Eric Peterson, Chuck Billy)
- Allegiance - 2:37 (Eric Peterson, Dave Lombardo, Chuck Billy)
- Sewn Shut Eyes - 4:15 (Eric Peterson, Chuck Billy, Del James)
- Fall of Sipledome - 4:48 (Eric Peterson, Chuck Billy)
Artwork
As with Low and Demonic, the cover artwork is by Dave McKean , based on an idea by Eric Peterson. The depicted women with the snakes are related to Riding the Snake . On the back of the album you can see a volcanic eruption inspired by 3 Days in Darkness .
Web links
- The Gathering at Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Marcus Schleutermann: The Bay Area strikes back! , in: Rock Hard, No. 145, 1999.
- ↑ a b c d e Marcus Schleutermann: 50,000 lashes for the manager! , in: Rock Hard, No. 147, 1999.
- ↑ www.rockhard.de: Review The Gathering by Frank Albrecht
- ↑ www.whiskey-soda.de: Review The Gathering ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ www.allmusic.com: Review of The Gathering by Jason Hundey
- ↑ officialcharts.de: Testament in the German album charts (accessed on March 23, 2009)
