Testament – Brotherhood of the Snake
Released October 28th, 2016
Long considered to be the honorary fifth member of thrash metal’s Big Four, Testament, sparked a renewed following after reuniting their original ’80s lineup in 2005 and releasing two excellent albums in the ensuing years, 2008’s The Formation of Damnation and 2012’s Dark Roots of Earth. Despite a few missteps, mat noticeably “Canna-Business”, their newest release Brotherhood of the Snake, their eleventh album overall, continues the streak. The aggressive, riff-heavy, in-your-face thrash has always worked for them, and they don’t stray far from what you would expect musically, but the lyrics don’t fit the album’s overall concept and are laughably bad at more than a few instances. On the whole though, however, Testament prove why thrash metal should be as relevant in the modern era as it was in the ’80s.
4 of 5 stars
