With 2008's The Formation of Damnation, Testament show both the new school and the old guard how to execute a masterful return to the front lines. The band's first album of new material since The Gathering (1999), The Formation of Damnation also welcomed guitarist Alex Skolnick and bassist Greg Christian back to the fold, after respective absences of sixteen and fourteen years.

Skolnick and Christian rejoined vocalist Chuck Billy, guitarist Eric Peterson, and new drummer Paul Bostaph, and when you put those people in the same room, you are guaranteed a high-standard album. That's exactly what The Formation of Damnation is. Testament sound so focused and confident, you'd have a hard time believing that they couldn't keep a stable lineup, or release consistently good albums, for most of the 80s and 90s. But with Chuck Billy behind the microphone, they roar (quite literally) and charge (quite mercilessly) back into life, propelled by the engine that is Paul Bostaph. When your resume reads "Slayer, Exodus, Testament and Forbidden", you know you're in good hands. 

After a brief instrumental introduction, The Formation of Damnation kicks off with the galloping crowd-pleaser "More Than Meets The Eye". The intensity rarely lets up after that, with the crushingly heavy title track, the full-speed-ahead "Henchmen Ride" and the killer "F.E.A.R." - the latter seeing Chuck Billy's voice morph from classic thrash screaming into the demonic growl that kept Testament off the airwaves and in the pit. In fact, "The Formation of Damnation" (the song) has Billy growling throughout (just check out the double-tracked vocals at 3:05). It's refreshing to see that as much as Testament turn the clock back to tap into their classic sound, they don't do it at the expense of the style of music they dabbled in during the 90s. It's something that Testament's peers would do well to pay heed to. 

The Formation of Damnation arrived in the middle of what's been called the "rebirth" of thrash metal, with bands like Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer all releasing albums that had more in common with their respective music from the 80s, than what they put out in 90s. And, to give credit where credit is due, these albums hit the mark more often than not. But while these release "return to roots" albums sound contrived, rehashed and tired, Testament deliver an album that will probably be remembered as one of the best albums of the decade. The trick, as I said above, is that Testament didn't pretend that the 90s never happened. Instead of doing a forced 180-degree turn, they simply combined their two styles and came up with The Formation of Damnation, an invigorating, fresh record that might well be the beginning of something awesome.