Review Summary: Intense, hard-hitting and dynamic, Testament returns with glory and take no prisoners in the process.
One has to give at least a decent amount of admiration for a group like Testament. Over the 33 years since their inception they managed to maintain their loyalty to the genre they built their fanbase upon, then always expanding and diversifying their sound at the right moment. Not just to remain relevant and exciting, but finding new ways to deliver their fast, aggressive yet melodic sweepstakes. Due to this, as well as Chuck Billy’s and Eric Peterson’s 200% dedication, the band managed not only to survive the tidal waves that formed the music industry in the last two decades. But they also solidified their position as one of the strongest and most consistent thrash metal bands out there with barely any missteps in their discography (although don’t count me as a fan of Demonic).
After four years of patient waiting, the fans were eager to know what direction the band continues upon: Following the complex, technical wrath of “The Formation of Damnation”, the more restraint, melodic-balladic approach of “Dark Roots of Earth” or returning to the raw, straightforward, earth-shattering heaviness of “The Gathering”? The answer is simple as the one to the gordian knot: “The Brotherhood of the Snake” combines all of them, making it the most focused, varied and quintessential release of their modern sound yet. Not to mention sticking to the “all killer, no filler” approach in their songwriting.
The key aesthetic of this modern sound is a combination of their early speed metal driven riffing with well-timed grooves, death metal like-chord progressions packaged with a thick, detuned guitar tone and a sense of heightened complexity. The opening title track demonstrates this beautifully, as it begins its main riff with a head-spinning swirl around the notes accompanied with pounding blast beats from Gene Hoglan, then ventures into a switch between this riff and a gut-punching mid-tempo verse riff. This formula of whirlwind fast thrash riffing is what dominated much of the songwriting on “Formation”, but here it’s mostly present on just two or three tracks, as the rest of “Brotherhood” truly brings out what the band is really capable of.
One of the criticisms that thrash metal bands often receive is that they simply rely on the common, “rehearsed and reheated” type of song structuring we almost kinda expect from them, but with Testament you hear and feel their genuine effort to make each song memorable on their own, and not half-hearted, forced efforts complied from leftover demos. The fist-pumping “The Pale King” harkens back to the early days of thrash with its punkish delivery and almost NWOBHM-like galloping during its bridges, while “Stronghold” sounds like a logical continuation of “The Gathering” with sludgy, battering-ram like thrash/groove riffing and Chuck Billy’s growling shouts recreating the primal atmosphere of that certain record. The fluid tempo changes and tight execution makes all of these influences and call-backs effective, making them an excellent blend of everything that forked for the guys in the past twenty years.
Similarly “Seven Seals” and “Born In The Rut” present another side of the group, as their mid-paced, more melodic flow and anthemic choruses make them the catchiest tracks on the whole record, with some truly wicked and harmonic solos from Alex Skolnick. But if we’re talking about wicked stuff, the second half of the record truly pulls no punches, with some of the most adventurous and extreme metal-like songs the band has ever recorded. “Black Jack” completely caught me off-guard with, as it’s blindingly fast, tremolo-picking, double-bass assault which makes it sound like Emperor attempting to record a thrash record, but with good results. And on the closer “The Number Game” the band takes their technical fury to the realm of thrash/death metal, resulting in the best of both worlds.
I don’t it can be stressed enough what a tremendous job Eric Peterson accomplishes here. Serving as the band’s leader and de facto songwriter, he strings thirty years of experience and style together into a collection of songs that don’t come off as chaotic tributes to the band earlier years, but fleshed out and well written ones, with a clear concept, build up and pay off. The songwriting is focused, layered and engaging with memorable, creative riffs from both end of the speed spectrum. The guitar are thick, heavy, yet balanced and give oxygen to the more melodic parts, and the same can be said about the production of the whole record.
But of course, credit has to be given to the other members as well, as every song come off as a true sign of creative teamwork and partnership. Alex Skolnick continues to be the band ever reliable axemonger, with his blazing leads ranging from neoclassical shredding, to bluesy passages. Bassist demigod Steve DiGiorgio also brings his game here, matching his colossal fretwork perfectly to the twisted riffs, and Gene Hoglan also maintains his nickname as the “Human Drum Machine” as his high speed blasts, effortless tempo changes and fills kick the record’s adrenalin-level even higher. However I’m also aware that Testament would be unrecognizable without the towering vocal menace of Chuck Billy and by the gods his presence here is just as gruesome, commanding and intense as any record the band has ever dropped. His distinctive switches between throaty snarls, gut-piercing growls and classic thrash word spitting remains one of the most vital part of the band’s sound, and his performance is equally top notch, especially if we consider the fact, that he entered into his mid-50’s.
As time passes, a new generation of artists always rise up and slowly take the wheel from the old groups. Thrash is not different from this, as many bands emerged in the past decade from both the gatekeeping (Havok, Warbringer) as well from the bold, experimental side (like Vektor or Revocation). But many of the veterans are still out there and they command respect and an example worth following not just because of their legacy but the way they keep contributing to with quality instead of quantity. And for the third time since the new millenium, Testament proved their righteous place as one of the unchallengeable godfathers of thrash metal.
