MTV Pays Belated Tribute To Testament

anthonyjmiccio | May 19, 2008 11:00 am
In a sop to the music industry, MTV plays clips of “featured” musical acts during commercial breaks, house ads, and the closing credits of Next. Does this increased visibility help a band much? We’ll see if The Formation Of Damnation, the latest (14th!) album by Testament, sees a noteworthy sales increase now that the San Francisco metal veterans have become this week’s pick in MTV’s 52/52 Bands promotion. They’re not the first aging band to receive this nod in 2008; in February, MTV gave it up to the Bad Brains! But this post isn’t about the Bad Brains, this post is about Testament.

Testament seem to be into both Alcatraz and Metallica, which is unsurprising for a northern California metal band whose first album came out in 1987.

“Over The Wall”

“Trial By Fire”

I haven’t been inspired to dig deeper into the Testament canon, let alone purchase First Strike Kill Deadly or Return To The Apocalyptic City, but I’m glad to see guys who look like this get on MTV in a context other than True Life: My Dad’s In A Metal Band.

Artist Of The Week: Testament [MTV] Testament – Electric Crown [YouTube] Testament – Over The Wall [YouTube] Testament – Trial By Fire [YouTube]