S.o.t.D. - Teeth Will Be Provided – Test Dept.

Teeth Will Be Provided – Test Dept.

A video that shows not just the theatricality of Test Dept., but also the intense physicality of that live show. Not to mention, awesome drumming.

S.o.t.D. - Beating The Retreat – Test Dept.

Beating The Retreat – Test Dept.

Had to laugh when I watched Children of Men for the first time and this was the intruder alarm when the Fishes approached Jasper Palmer’s (Michael Caine’s character) house.

S.o.t.D. - Faces of Freedom (HeadFuck) NOzone Mix – Test Dept.

Faces of Freedom (HeadFuck) NOzone Mix – Test Dept.

All these years later, their militancy doesn’t appear to have abated.

S.o.t.D. - Yn Nydd Cadiaw – Test Dept.

Yn Nydd Cadiaw – Test Dept.

Check the writeup I did for another track off this album, Arddyledog Ganu.

S.o.t.D. - Kick To Kill – Test Dept.

Kick To Kill – Test Dept.

I was totally blown away by the massed percussion assault of this track. Still impresses the hell out of me.

S.o.t.D. - The Unacceptable Face of Freedom - Face 3 – Test Dept.

The Faces of Freedom - Face 3 – Test Dept.

This 3 song EP preceded the mighty, mighty The Unacceptable Faces of Freedom. As if this wasn’t mighty enough.

S.o.t.D. - Fuel To Fight – Test Department

Fuel To Fight – Test Department

From the height of the English coal miners strike of the early 80’s. Never agreed with the politics, but it produced this album. This track in particular helped cement my love for the mighty Test Dept.

S.o.t.D. - Arddyledog Ganu – Test Dept.

Arddyledog Ganu – Test Dept.

While everything Test Dept. did was awesome in every way imaginable, they may have outdone themselves with this.

Gododdin (pronounced Godoth-een) was a truly epic performance put on by a Welsh language theatre company called Brith Gof (an idiom meaning faint recollection), and Test Dept. Using the poem Y Gododdin as inspiration, the earliest poem in the Welsh language, it tells the fate of 300 Celtic warriors who set out to defend their homeland from 100,000 invading Angles around 600 A.D. at Catraeth. It premiered at the abandoned Rover car factory in Cardiff, transformed using 600 tons of sand, 50 trees, 30 wrecked cars and a set that flooded as the performance progressed. After the performance in Wales, it was also performed in Hamburg - Germany, Polverigi - Italy, Leeuwarden - Friesland – the Netherlands and Glasgow - Scotland.

I have the LP of this, which came with a 24 page booklet that just made me really sad I missed this performance.

S.o.t.D. - Demonomania (remix) – Test Dept.

Demonomania (remix) – Test Dept.

From the stage when they started to mellow out a little and explore a more dance oriented sound. Kind of a parallel of my own musical development.

S.o.t.D. - Fist – Test Dept.

Fist – Test Dept.

Still one of my favourite records by one of my favourite bands. Heavy metal in the truest sense of the word and not a guitar in sight. Truly powerful music.

S.o.t.D. - Comrade Enver Hoxha – Test Dept.

Comrade Enver Hoxha – Test Dept.

A quieter moment amongst the ferocious pummeling that made up The Unacceptable Faces of Freedom. LOVE that album. Enver Hoxha was the communist dictator of Albania during the Cold War, and this track features recordings from “Radio Free Albania”.

S.o.t.D. - Fuckhead – Test Dept.

Fuckhead – Test Dept.

When people talk about really powerful music, very little if any of it compares to the force of a live show by these guys. Seeing two guys drumming, and I do mean drumming, with two sledge hammers each on the side of a huge metal vat, makes amplified rock music look really tepid and silly by comparison. Awesome to behold. I saw them twice and was blown away each time, but those shows were nothing compared to some of the staggering multimedia performances they put on in Europe.