UMUR "The New Order" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US thrash metal act Testament. The album was released through Atlantic/Megaforce Records in May 1988. "The Legacy (1987)" instantly put Testament on the thrash metal map and riding on that wave of success "The New Order" was recorded and released less than a year after the release of "The Legacy (1987)" (which was released in July 1987). Add to that a lot of touring and the release of the "Live at Eindhoven" EP in October 1987, and you have a very busy band.

It´s not exactly audible on "The New Order" though, which is a well composed, detailed, and generally well played release. Stylistically it´s the natural successor to the debut, featuring more sophisticated compositions, while still maintaining some of the rawness and aggression of it´s predecessor. The 10 track, 39:20 minutes long album is a pretty varied release, showing new sides of Testament that the debut didn´t. It´s especially the very skillfully executed guitar leads and solos by Alex Skolnick, which provide the music with something extra, but quite a few of the basic tracks themselves are also very catchy and feature powerful and memorable thrashy riffs and vocals. Highligths include "Trial by Fire", "Into the Pit", and "Disciples of the Watch", but there´s nothing sub par on the album. Even the Aerosmith cover "Nobody's Fault" is delivered in a convincing manner, that also shows that Chuck Billy is pretty good at performing more melodic oriented vocals.

The sound production is decent, but could definitely have been better sounding. For a 1988 thrash metal production it´s alright though. As mentioned above the musicianship is generally very strong on the album (and in the case of Skolnick it´s absolutely brilliant), but if I have to mention a minor issue it would be the drumming by Louie Clemente. The man has absolutely no groove and his drumming style is often one-dimensional and lacking innovative playing ideas. With a better drummer "The New Order" could have been an absolute beast of an album, but Clemente´s playing style and general lack of groove drag my rating down a bit. I still think "The New Order" is one of Testament´s strongest albums though, and a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.

Vim Fuego Testament is often considered one of the second tier of thrash bands, behind the big four of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax. In the shadow of the big four, the likes of Testament, Exodus, Forbidden, and Overkill struggled to gain the recognition of their more famous peers. But it never came. For the likes of Exodus, it was a travesty. For Testament, it was never going to happen– they simply weren't good enough.

Before all the old school thrash fans out there call for my head on a spike so crows can pick my dead staring eyes from their sockets, let me explain. Testament was and is a good band, but never reached beyond that level in the 1980s. ‘The New Order’ is a good example of why. On first listen, it has all the ingredients of a good thrash album, but a few hours later, you're struggling to remember any of it. Put simply, Testament as a whole were poor songwriters back in the 1980s. The riffing is solid, but unimpressive. Alex Skolnick's leads are adequate, but not dazzling. Chuck Billy's vocals are flat, and poorly executed in places. The song lyrics are standard, middle–of–the–road thrash fare. All seems "good", but nothing is "great", so promotion to the major leagues never came.

Testament were often unfairly labelled Metallica clones. Unfortunately, many media at the time had no idea about thrash metal beyond Metallica or Slayer, so bands were generally compared to one or the other of them. Testament had their own sound. Listen to "Disciples Of The Watch", the best song on the album. The bass was audible. The rhythm and lead guitars were quite different to Metallica's sound. And Louis Clemente ran rings around Lars Ulrich when it came to drum technique and skill. Unfortunately, it just did not seem to gel on the rest of the album. It is like tomato sauce, ice cream and beer– all fine on their own, but mixed together? Not appetising at all.

This album is probably of interest as a history piece today, but you would not use it to show someone how good thrash was back in the 80s. It is simply too mediocre for that.

Stephen Second album that broke TESTAMENT to the mainstream success, thanks to several singles they spawned including the AEROSMITH cover, 'Nobody's Fault'. Even though I think the debut is untouchable, 'The New Order' do have lots of tracks that I love and never got bored until today. 'Eerie Inhabitans', for example, is a stunning opener; 'The New Order' has brutally fast chorus and spectacular solo; 'Disciples of The Watch' always gets my head banging constantly; 'Nobody's Fault' is surprisingly an excellent rendition of classic song; and 'A Day of Reckoning' is also marvelous.

Half of this album is good but not more, and probably 'Hypnosis' is the useless filler. 'Musical Death' is also quite similar but slightly better, the solo is a nice effort. Ironically, the two singles that introduced TESTAMENT to more audience, aren’t the best part of this album.

Production is as usual, quite thin but as you expect from old thrash band. I guess 'The New Order' remains one of the underrated albums of the past, should have received much better appreciation, and deserved at least 80%.

Warthur Testament are a band who have always rather left me cold, and The New Order provides ample evidence as to why. From the opening track, Eerie Inhabitants, the band do their utmost to mimic the Metallica playbook circa Master of Puppets, from the riffing to the song structure right down to Chuck Billy's vocal delivery. It's a passable impersonation of Metallica but I'd much rather listen to the real deal, and there's little originality or verve on offer; this persists throughout the album. The only change of pace? An uninspiring Aerosmith cover. Not my cup of tea, though if you are really heavily into the 80s thrash scene it'll probably tickle your fancy.

Kingcrimsonprog For the most part there are two types of Metal fans, those that like Testament and those who haven’t heard much Testament. Obviously there are a few exceptions, but it illustrates a point, Testament are the kind of band to make loyal fans out of the vast majority of people who listen to them. Should you be reading this and wondering whether or not to try out Testament, I would strongly recommend that you do as you will almost certainly become a life long fan.

Its pretty difficult to argue with The New Order really, any album that contains ‘Into The Pit,”Disciples of the Watch,’ and ‘The Preacher,’ is pretty much guaranteed, to put a smile on the face of any right minded metal fan, being as they are three of the absolute best Thrash Metal songs ever recorded. Should you be in any doubt as to whether or not to buy this album, then listen to any one of those songs, which will likely provide you with the all the convincing necessary.

To be considered anything other than wonderful whilst containing the aforementioned tracks, the album would have to be pretty damn poor for the rest of the run-time and thankfully The New Order is anything but poor. The album opens with the effective ‘Eerie Inhabitants,’ a straight up Thrash number with a clean beginning for added interest, contains a number of pummeling thrash classics, two relatively interesting instrumentals and a heavied-up Areosmith cover to prevent the album being too repetitive.

Overall, the music is hard and direct Thrash Metal, with enough variety to escape tedium while still remaining true to the formula. The vocals as always are top quality and the level of musicianship is very high. There is a reason this album keeps turning up in lists of The Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time after all.

If you have an interest in Thrash Metal then you really should check out Testament, and The New Order is a very good album to try.