Dark Roots of Earth
Dark Roots of Earth is the eleventh studio album by American thrash metal band Testament, released on 27 July 2012 through Nuclear Blast. It followed The Formation of Damnation and brought back Andy Sneap, who had mixed and engineered their previous three records, this time as producer. Eliran Kantor painted the cover, and "Native Blood" got a music video.
The line-up shifted around it. Gene Hoglan, who drummed on Demonic in 1997, returned to cover the sessions for Paul Bostaph, who was sidelined by a serious injury and left the band that December. Chris Adler of Lamb of God also played drums on the iTunes bonus version of "A Day in the Death". It is the last Testament album to feature bassist Greg Christian. It entered the Billboard 200 at number 12, the band's highest placing there, which makes it a good place to hear them at a commercial peak.
Dark Roots of Earth: tracklist, credits and charts
9 tracks · 51:09Tracklist
- 1Rise UpEric Peterson and Chuck Billy4:18
- 2Native BloodPeterson, Billy, James5:21
- 3Dark Roots of EarthPeterson, Skolnick, Billy, James5:45
- 4True American HatePeterson, Skolnick, Billy, Souza5:27
- 5A Day in the DeathPeterson, Skolnick, Billy, Souza5:38
- 6Cold EmbracePeterson, Skolnick, Billy, James7:46
- 7Man Kills MankindPeterson, Billy, James5:06
- 8Throne of ThornsPeterson, Skolnick, Billy, James7:05
- 9Last Stand for IndependencePeterson, Billy, James4:43
- Produced by
- Andy Sneap, Testament
- Mixed by
- Andy Sneap, Testament
- Engineered by
- Andy Sneap
- Recorded
- June 2011 – February 2012
- Label
- Nuclear Blast
- Length
- 51:09
Singles
- “True American Hate” · 2012
- “Native Blood” · 20 July 2012
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 · 2012 | 12 |
| UK Albums Chart · 2012 | 57 |
| Hungarian Albums · 2012 | 1 |
| US Hard Rock · 2012 | 1 |
| US Independent Albums · 2012 | 1 |
| US Top Rock Albums · 2012 | 1 |
| US Tastemaker · 2012 | 2 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums · 2012 | 3 |
| Finnish Albums · 2012 | 4 |
| German Albums · 2012 | 4 |
All 25 charts
| UK Independent Albums · 2012 | 5 |
| Polish Albums · 2012 | 8 |
| Swedish Albums · 2012 | 8 |
| Swiss Albums · 2012 | 10 |
| Norwegian Albums · 2012 | 11 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard) · 2012 | 12 |
| Austrian Albums · 2012 | 21 |
| Italian Albums · 2012 | 27 |
| Belgian Albums (Wallonia) · 2012 | 29 |
| Danish Albums · 2012 | 29 |
| Dutch Albums · 2012 | 32 |
| Scottish Albums · 2012 | 39 |
| French Albums · 2012 | 46 |
| Belgian Albums (Flanders) · 2012 | 54 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) · 2012 | 56 |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
Released the same week
Also released on 27 July
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + musicbrainz
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 27 July 2012 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 27 July 2012 | |
| Wikidata | 2012 | |
| Deezer | 27 July 2012 | |
| US release | 27 July 2012 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 27 July 2012 | earliest UK or European date |
12 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | MX | Nuclear Blast | 727361250904 | other |
| 2012 | DE | Nuclear Blast | 727361250904 | other |
| 27 July 2012 | XW | Nuclear Blast | 887845278876 | original |
| 27 July 2012 | US | Nuclear Blast | 727361250911 | original |
| 27 July 2012 | XE | Nuclear Blast | 727361250904 | original |
| 27 July 2012 | XE | Nuclear Blast | 727361250911 | original |
| 30 July 2012 | GB | Nuclear Blast | other | |
| 31 July 2012 | US | Nuclear Blast | 727361250980 | other |
| 31 July 2012 | XE | Nuclear Blast | 727361250928 | other |
| 31 July 2012 | — | Nuclear Blast | 0727361250935 | other |
| 8 August 2012 | JP | METAL FRONTIER | other | |
| 2018 | AT | Nuclear Blast | 727361250966 | other |
Cover art sources
deezer · upscaled: major: best source 1200x1200, upscaled to 1500 (x1.25)
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| deezer ✓ | 1200×1200 | upscaled: major: best source 1200x1200, upscaled to 1500 (x1.25) |
| coverartarchive | 1342×1200 | rejected |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |