Testament: First Strike Still Deadly

Review

I always viewed Testament as being always in the shadow of Metallica (from their 1980's era). The fact that I was skeptical in buying this release was due to mainly their poorly produced first 2 releases ("The Legacy" & "The
New Order"). The fact that they decided to give their audience a re-recording of their best selected first and second album releases plus a track off of "Return To The Apocalyptic City" was a triumphant shock.

The D-tuned guitars, pounding drum, and vocals of Chuck Billy (Steve Souza is featured on tracks 10 & 11) make Testament's re-recording a milestone in my opinion. So what is all the hype about since it isn't anything new here they're trying to cash in on this you might be asking. I say it isn't hype and it isn't cashing in but rather re-establishing themselves as Thrash Metal pioneers. They have never cashed in I don't think this was EVER the
case.

You still may be asking "if they are to you in Metallica's shadow then why is this release given so much praise"? Well, to put it bluntly Testament always stayed true to their Thrash Metal roots and never compromised their musical style for the sake of what the world thinks or determines what they SHOULD sound like. Just as in my opinion Slayer as an example said during an interview back in 1985 which was "We're never going to change our style of
music".

All of the riffs, even though they are in D-tuning as opposed to the original work which was in standard guitar tuning (E) they sound much heavier like a chainsaw so to speak (or buzz saw for a better analogy). They did their justice in re-recording (I can't repeat this enough!) these songs because they wanted I think to be respected and admired once again as being die hard Thrash Metal pioneers till death.

Tracks
01. First Strike Is Deadly
02. Into The Pit
03. Trial By Fire
04. Disciples Of The Watch
05. The Preacher
06. Burnt Offerings
07. Over The Wall
08. The New Order
09. The Haunting
10. Alone In The Dark
11. Reign Of Terror