Review Summary: A classic thrash record that too often gets swept under the rug and forgotten.
5 of 6 thought this review was well writtenThe New Order is, has, and always will be one of my favorite thrash albums of all time. It was recorded during the late eighties when thrash was on a steady decline. It was their 2nd major release since their lackluster debut “the Legacy”. On The New Order, Testament finally got the formula right, and managed to fine tune their sound and lose the poor vocals that plagued Chuck Billy on the Legacy. Instead they experiment with a broader sound and even add melody to a few of their songs. The tone of the record has a much more mature feel than their debut and established Testament as a significant force in the thrash metal movement.
This album contains some of the finest thrash songs even to this day. Songs like “The Preacher”, “Into the Pit”, “Disciples of the Watch”, and “Trial By Fire” have stood the test of time and remain some of the most excellent tracks to have emerged from this period in time. The title track delivers intense guitar work from Alex Skolnick, who obviously honed his prowess from album one. Even the filler instrumentals “Hypnosis”, and “Musical Death” flow well and provide great transitions and atmosphere for the record. Their cover of Aerosmith’s “Nobody’s Fault” is surprisingly quite good and outshines many of the covers done by other thrash bands such as Megadeth, and Metallica. The drums from Louie on the album are quite standard as far as percussion goes. However that’s not to say that this is a bad thing. He drums pretty much exactly the same as his thrash peers and delivers solid if predictable drum licks.
The New Order will always be an underrated gem that never got the praise that it truly deserved. Metallica may be the voice of it’s generation, Megadeth may be more technical, and Slayer may exhibit the most brutality and aggression, but The New Order is certainly among the most fun and rewarding listens to emerge from the eighties scene.
