Review Summary: Yep, this sure is a Testament album, all right.
For the most part, Testament had settled into business as usual with 2016’s Brotherhood of the Snake. There was a lot of talk around the album’s release about the band’s shaky interpersonal relationships with a less collaborative process overall and bassist Steve DiGiorgio making his return to the group, but this doesn’t seem to have affected the band’s now standard routine. At this stage of their career, the band seems content in testing out variations of their thrash formula than pushing it to any real new places.
Compared to the comeback fervor of The Formation of Damnation or the grandeur on Dark Roots of Earth, this album opts for a more straightforward approach. In addition to a leaner overall runtime at forty-five minutes, the songs favor snappier lengths and immediate structures. We’re still not getting back into death metal territory but the near total concentration on speedy riffs, gruff vocals, and tight rhythms makes for one of the band’s most straight up thrash records in quite some time.
This approach may result in less space devoted to experimental nonsense, but there’s also a lacking sense of melody than usual. Much like Souls of Black, the writing isn’t bad but the somewhat monotonous performances can make the hooks feel somewhat flat. This is especially noticeable with more mid-tempo tracks like “Seven Seals” and “Born In a Rut” not quite following through on their attempts at soaring choruses, but even faster tracks like “Centuries of Suffering” and “Black Jack” don’t have the impact to make them true staples. The title track and “Stronghold” manage to be tight exceptions but I wouldn’t put them among this era’s best songs.
Considering the highs and lows that Testament has had through their ever-changing trajectory, Brotherhood of the Snake is the first time that an album from them seems to just sort of exists. While the leaner approach could appeal more to folks that found the other comeback efforts overblown, it doesn’t offer much stylistic distinction beyond superficial tweaks. The musicianship is as powerful as ever but isn’t enough to sell the rather pedestrian songwriting. There’s enough going on to put this above the band’s worst works but unless you’re really clamoring for some extra conspiracy lyrics, there’s not much essential here.
