"Dark Roots Of Earth", the new album from Testament, sold more than 20,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 12 on The Billboard 200 chart, reports Blabbermouth. The CD arrived in stores on July 31 via Nuclear Blast Records.
Testament's previous studio album, "The Formation Of Damnation", opened with 11,400 units back in May 2008 to debut at position No. 59.
"Dark Roots Of Earth" was produced, mixed and mastered by acclaimed British producer Andy Sneap (Arch Enemy, Nevermore, Accept, Exodus). Special bonus tracks were recorded, mixed and mastered by Juan Urteaga (Machine Head, Exodus, Ted Nugent, Night Ranger) at his Trident Studios.
"Dark Roots Of Earth" jewel case CD track listing:
01. Rise Up 02. Native Blood 03. Dark Roots Of Earth 04. True American Hate 05. A Day In The Death 06. Cold Embrace 07. Man Kills Mankind 08. Throne Of Thorns 09. Last Stand For Independence
Why not throw in Dark Angel or something? Vastly superior band. Why do people always get so hung-up on Testament, despite The Legacy being really their only good album?
Kinda. Not like distorted MP3 files I guess, but I take the crappy production of the 80's/90's over overproducted metal any day of the week. It suits more for metal music, IMO.
thing is, why is it such a big deal? do u honestly think that metal bands these days would want to put out crappy production in their music? ummm no, at least i wouldnt. so what if most metal bands nowadays dont stick to the "traditional" style. i like metal for the most part how it is nowadays.
Metal bands didn't have crappy production sounds in their music because they wanted to back in the day.. they did because that was all they could afford. Now, good production is more affordable and unless that band wants a specific retro sound, it's not going to happen.
There's a difference between crappy production and raw production. Nine times out of ten, the raw production of 80s Thrash we are talking about added to the music, whether it was a choice or a necessity.
On the other hand, thinking that properly produced music/"good production" is infallible is laughable, considering the majority of bands who buy into the modern production crap end up with overly-produced, sterile crap that kills them music.
*facepalm* Testament never put their "traditional style" behind and "Dark Roots of Earth" is no exception, there's great riffing and Skolnick shredding like a beast, Chuck Billy's growling and that's Testament enough for me. I enjoy the album. I just said that I take the raw production of the 80's/90's over all this overproduction going on in metal music nowadays, I didn't said that it compromises my liking for the album. And yeah, a lot of metal bands put raw/crappy production in their albums purposely nowadays. Municipal Waste, Toxic Holocaust, Evile, just to name a few.
I loved this album. I think what makes this album great isn't just that all of the guys are ridiculously talented, but in the way that they all seem to work together so perfectly as a band. There's a lot of great chemistry here and it shows.
The reason why bands such as Testament are able to crack charts isn't because they are gaining mainstream popularity, but solely because of the fact that metalheads have tendency of actually buying records. I'm not saying this is a fact or anything, but I'm 100% that piracy rates are way higher among the mainstream pop/dance (or as we know it, garbage) music, because pop fans are only looking for singles.
But this is all just great, because having metal bands in the charts may ring the bells in some major record companies.
but I'm 100% that piracy rates are way higher among the mainstream pop/dance (or as we know it, garbage) music
Not really, "illegal file sharing" is what made Metal and Punk so wide-spread in the first place, thanks to tape-trading.
Same goes for downloading music - or what people like to call pirating. It's rampant in Metal. It's generally supported by the bands (that is, if they're still involved in the Metal world, and actually have connections with the real Metal fanbase), and there's a huge link-sharing scene involved in it. You see, the majority of legitimate Metalheads realize that record sales and charts are useless bullshit and don't matter in anything outside pop music.
Bands that make charts are either old and lucky, like Motorhead or Iron Maiden, or they've spent most of their piss-poor lifespan flirting with being radio-friendly/commercialized trash, like Testament, all the while wishing they were the underground legends they pretend to be.
We don't want major record companies. Remember what happened the last couple times major record companies tried to work with Metal? We got Glam Metal. And then we got Nu-Metal. And now we've got Metalcore and Deathcore. Major record companies are what is killing music today, with the help of morons who buy the stuff they push out. It has nothing to do with singles, and it definitely has nothing to do with the OSEWBAD act of downloading music: it's all in the mass-produced trash (it exists in Metal, too), and the morons with crappy taste in music who gobble it up.
This album is great I rather like raw production nowadays metal sounds very polished, but still this doesn't affect the creativity and brutality in the album which from my point of view it's great, & well besides from that we know Andy Sneap besides for being a great producer, we know him from his work in the guitar in Sabbat so I think there's a pretty amount of knowledge there; so enjoy the album & cheers \m/
What i like about metal listeners, true metal listeners is that we are intelligent and can provide great subjective critism and view points. Personally, i do not mind the overproduction of todays metal music. Im sitting close to my 40's and love good sound. I primarly listen to vinyl and hi rez digital and ill take mature overproduction anyday. True, i agree in the days of tape-trading of the early 80's before the internet the bands needed to promote their sound. But, we have matured. Metal has matured. Not saying its for the 40 somethin crowd, but the music has matured deserves recognition for good, no great music. These musicians are some of the most talented musicians alive. I agree, we need trading and yes, pirate trading to move the music and give those up in comers some listening time, but we need overproduction and the production of hirez sound that us old folgies do not mind paying for. Cannot wait to hear the new album live in seattle at the showbox, rock on fellas.
Rock on!
Sincerely, everyone.