Definitely Not Testament’s Best Effort.
Testament should be classified as either speed metal, or progressive metal. I like that their vocalist does more than just the standard Cookie Monster voice. The guitars are really good, both in sound and from a technical aspect. I recommend any of the solo efforts of Testament’s revolving cast of guitarists. So what’s wrong with this album that it only got 3 stars?
By now I have heard several Testament albums. I am an older fan of theirs though I have not been listening to them since the beginning. Testament never puts out the same album over and over again. Every album is a new effort, and progressive. This one happens to have more of the throaty vocals instead of sung vocals, and I like sung vocals better.
Testament has put out several albums that have better song craftsmanship like Low, The Gathering, and The Ritual, all of which I would give a higher recommendation for. By the time of this album, I am starting to really grow tired of triggered drums. When I hear triggered drums, I think, “Why even bother having a drummer? You might as well have a beat box make the music.” Triggered drums just plain blow. There is no dynamics to them. When Testament started out, their albums were much rawer because they didn’t have triggered drums. I also think compression subtracts from the sound of this album. Use of compression, just to make every song louder is a trend that I wish would die. I like loud music, but I also like dynamics, and when the guitarists use compression, and the drummer uses triggered drums, albums lose their edge. Maybe I’m just an old fart, but I think it’s time to go back to the roots of metal, when it was much rawer, and had less production. When every album is produced the same way, a new metal album becomes same old same old.
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