I had just heard, in full, the much-anticipated comeback album by Testament, called Foundation of Damnation, a few days ago. I have yet to buy a personal copy for myself but I reckon I'm gonna do that within the next week. I feel it's a solid, superb comeback effort that should make this eager wait for all Testament fans totally worth it.

For me, I've had very ambivalent feelings about post-Practice Testament, i.e the outright debacle of The Ritual and then the insipid, run-of-the-mill trio of Low, Demonic and The Gathering which were weird and inept efforts at pandering to the underground die-hards and the band spectacularly failed to pull off that dare-devil stunt with any real class. Well, ok, The Gathering had its cool moments but overall I thought latter-day Testament went off in a silly tangent and got hopelessly lost...until they got found....with this return of genuine quality all-new studio material. To my long-time thrash-tuned ears, Foundation of Damnation has got some of the same strong, highly creative and compelling songwriting of Testament's early years. The whole band sounds extremely confident, rejuvenated, original and in red-hot form. Excepting two rather too slow and melodic tunes which I couldn't care less about, the remainder is mostly killer...no filler.. with an absolutely brilliant production that does a modern thrash album by a veteran act all the justice it deserves.

And someone pointed out to me cos I actually asked; FoD has 4/5 of the classic Testament line-up: Chuck Billy, Eric Peterson, Greg Christian, Alex Skolnick (yes, he's come back home to the fold) and Paul Bostaph.

I've been told by a fan that the band are apparently streaming the entire album on their MySpace page.

I'm an old school testament fan , that loves the new shit . I heard two songs off the new album and they rip . They actually destroy their competition - megadeth , tallica , slayer .

But i wasn't a fan of the black album I mean coughtheritualcough - era stuff .

Low was a fucking brilliant album though , I personally like them best with james Murphy .

its a killer album and i have a copy in the mail with the special edition cd and making of dvd, its the first testament album i buy since souls of black

new TESTAMENT is fucking AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Omg .....jesus christ I fell out of the Testament loop for a bit, but this new one is a BEAST, I am getting it ASAP. fuckin eh......total awesomeness on cd.

SUAD mate, I'm glad that the Testament comeback has got you totally floored.. I'd be sort of surprised if you--indeed most anybody---didn't feel that way about this masterclass by the vets. FoD really goes beyond all my expectations. No, it's just awesome, pure n simple. I got my personal new copy just last night.

The Fistful of Metal forum has been pretty much in deep slumber for weeks and weeks on end. And then I found a fantastic new reason to throw in a jolt to see how the fans react. Only three responses so far, and it makes me wonder what more can it take to make thrash fans in this forum at least begin to rave and celebrate.

Someone recommended I seriously sample a modern thrash act called Fueled by Fire. Anybody here heard them yet?

I havnt heard them , but will check them out . But if punishing thrash is what you seek please check out sacrifice - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendID=10956524

love the making of dvd with this album, these guys can play, hope this album is a start of something special for testament

Fueled By Fire is alright.

Check out Warbringer out of Ventura, CA.

Seconded. Warbringer is an awesome modern thrash act. I have their ep, don't have the full length though. How is it?

To RDC: Right on the money, mate. We're on the same page about Sacrifice. I know by now that you're a big fan and, to be honest, so am I. There was a time when I used to constantly confuse Sacrifice with Sanctuary (before I had heard either of them, of course). But yea, Sacrifice is superb, in-your-face, no-mince thrash.

To Ira: I absolutely agree about Warbringer. Clearly a stand-out bunch of thrashers that keep the thrash flag flying proudly high, even today. I think I had heard bits of another new thrash act called Toxicity, and I'm not at all talking about the System of a Down album. Then there are a few obvious others, like Avenger of Blood or Skeletonwitch. If I'm not mistaken, Sacred Reich put out a new one recently. Destruction, the German veteran titans, although I clearly like mainly their first four albums, is still putting out decent material. Inventor of Evil was probably their last full-length outing.

To SUAD: You can bet your bottom dime that Warbringer is a bringer of thrash delight, no question. I have their great EP and only one full-length, War Without End. Nothing "ground-breaking" or revolutionary if that's what fans are seeking, but an extremely blistering, stylish effort with several swell solos, solid vocals, and worthy drumming and bass to round of the impressive effort. The cover, though, is uncannily reminiscent of Bolt Thrower's angle of things.

I love the new album. Testament are the masters of Bay Area thrash

I love nearly everything Testament have put out but this is most certainly there best album in a while. 'The New Order' is still my favorite album by them however.

The song More Than Meets The Eye is fuckin' awesome!