| abstract | - The Formation of Damnation is the ninth studio album by American thrash metal band Testament. It was released on April 29, 2008. It is the first album Testament has released of new material since 1999's The Gathering. It is also Testament's first release with original guitarist Alex Skolnick since 1992's The Ritual and bassist Greg Christian since 1994's Low. This was also the band's only studio album recorded with drummer Paul Bostaph, who once joined Testament in 1993, but became a fulltime member in 2007 before leaving the band once again four years later. The follow-up to The Gathering was first mentioned in 2002 and was originally due for release in early 2004, but was not yet completed. Due to the band's touring schedule and many line-up changes, the album was set aside for a number of years before finally being completed in 2007/2008. The album debuted at No. 59 on the Billboard 200, selling 11,900 copies in its first week. It won the "Best Album" award at Metal Hammer's Golden Gods Awards ceremony on 16 June 2008, beating albums by Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, Children of Bodom and Down. They later named it the 4th best album of 2008 in their end-of year top 50 albums list. In addition, Metal-Rules.com voted it the best metal album of 2008. "More Than Meets the Eye" was released as an official DLC for the Rock Band series, while "Henchmen Ride" was released separately on the Rock Band Network.
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