Album Review: Testament – Brotherhood Of The Snake
Testament return with a rhythm and progression in its thrash on the new album Brotherhood Of The Snake.
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Text Review:
You cannot say thrash is dead in 2016 with many of the biggest names in the sub-genre of metal releasing albums this year including the legends like Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Testament. Since their formation in 1983, Testament has been a name held in high regard along the likes of the Big Four and now we have their eleventh studio album Brotherhood Of The Snake. And 29 years after their debut album The Legacy, Testament plan to get loud and fast as the Brotherhood Of The Snake will be a return to the 80’s style thrash album. Testament is a band who have written albums with success that progress in styles going from fast to heavy and then to deep, so to hear Chuck Billy and company are going full board, it’s hard not to get excited to hear what comes.
That’s not to say that there isn’t a progression at all in the album. In fact, there is a rhythm and transition even with all the volume. As explained by Chuck Billy: “If a Testament fan knows our history or has followed our last couple of records, they’ll hear the progression. Everything is right there and in-your-face. That’s the way it should be with us.” As for the writing on Brotherhood Of The Snake, we have more than enough to dive into than just random anger. Some of the album is inspired by the old Ancient Aliens TV show where aliens visited Earth thousands of years ago and were the ones who helped shaped culture and progression on our planet. So, take thrash, add ideas like aliens and creation, and you have Brotherhood Of The Snake.
Chuck Billy’s statement about there being a rhythm even with all the volume was backed up and you can hear it just from the opening few tracks. Right out of the gate in the first nine minutes you are given just about everything you could want from Testament. Just listening to the title track will give you more than enough material to understand what you are will be mostly getting when listening to this album.
This title track is killer. You can easily tell this will be a concert staple for Testament for the foreseeable future. The drumwork from Gene Hoglan is absolutely crushing and the riffs from Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson come in clear and don’t clash. The rhythm section is strong in the bass and Chuck Billy carries this song to a high note. This is a concert anthem that will incite riots at festivals next year.
There have been many breaks and changes in Testament over the years for a myriad of reasons. After hearing a song like this from the band though you get the impression that the members, especially those who have been in Testament since inception, haven’t lost a step in their signature and style. They can still be as ferocious as they were 30 years ago. This album definitely has a consistent speed throughout most of the tracks and the title track is the pace. Even in an occasional song like “Born In A Rut” where the tone gets more low and heavy, the speed is picked back up in “Centuries Of Suffering” and “Neptune’s Spear”. The consistent fast pace and loud intensity is the standard on the album, which many people were expecting and hoping for.
The flow through over five minutes of “Neptune’s Spear” gets into your pulse and this is the type of song where everyone in the band shines. After three minutes when you think the bridge and solo are going to lead to a close, the track retracts back to the style from the beginning. It creates this alerting sensation when listening that pulls you deeper into the song. Even if not every song hit’s it’s mark like Seven Seals or Canna Business which is reminiscent of an angry garage session, the album still has many highlights that last and give a lot of replay value. The previously mentioned rhythm is present is almost the entire album and even for the few tracks that are skippable, there are others that you will be listening to for a while.
It shows a lot of tenacity when a band can keep running through many changes and a long hiatus over the course of decades and still be as powerful and well regarded as they were in their youth. A lot of thrash legends have given or are planning to give us something fun to listen to this year and now Testament have contributed to that. Overall, Brotherhood Of The Snake delivers what it sells in a heavy thrash album filled with rhythm and progression. It’s another solid entry from Testament who are still proving to a new generation what metal can be about, even if it includes alien conspiracy theories.
8/10
