From the vaults: Testament – Souls Of Black (1990)
Alongside 1994’s ‘Low’, ‘Souls Of Black’ is probably Testament’s most underated album. Picking up where previous record – ‘Practice What You Preach’ – left off, the band continued to inject their brand of ultra-muscular Bay Area thrash with variety (a ballad, some mid-paced riffage and progression), ‘Souls….’ was the band’s darkest record thus far. Learning quickly that outright speed for its own sake only gets you so far, the band showed the capacity to pen skull-crushing anthems like ‘Love To Hate’ and ‘Malpractice’ by switching from speed riffs to mid-paced crushers on the spin of a dime. The result has become something of a Testament trademark, and when mixed with the more conventional jack-hammer heavy thrashers like ‘Falling Fast’ and ‘Face In The Sky’ (massive, massive riff) the over-ridding sense is of a band in transition (as most of their peers, Megadeth, Metallica and Anthrax were at the same time). Priest-esque power ballad ‘The Legacy’ avoids cheese by adopting a ‘Planet Caravan’ style melody to make things eerie; whilst the progressive thrash elements on this record provide the songs that really should be better remembered – ‘Absence of Light’ is stunning, but closer ‘Seven Days of Mercy’ is a truly unheralded burst of melodic, heavy thrash.
The performances throughout are tight and sterling. Alex Skolnick naturally delivers ridiculously expert guitar wizzardry; and vocalist Chuck Billy continued his evolution into thrash’s best hook writer (his melodies add some serious weight to these tunes). The production, however, robs much of the album of its true power. Surely a full remixed and remastered catalogue is in order boys?
Alongside 1994’s ‘Low’, ‘Souls Of Black’ is probably Testament’s most underated album. Picking up where previous record – ‘Practice What You Preach’ – left off, the band continued to inject their brand of ultra-muscular Bay Area thrash with variety (a ballad, some mid-paced riffage and progression), ‘Souls….’ was the band’s darkest record thus far. Learning quickly that outright speed for its own sake only gets you so far, the band showed the capacity to pen skull-crushing anthems like ‘Love To Hate’ and ‘Malpractice’ by switching from speed riffs to mid-paced crushers on the spin of a dime. The result has become something of a Testament trademark, and when mixed with the more conventional jack-hammer heavy thrashers like ‘Falling Fast’ and ‘Face In The Sky’ (massive, massive riff) the over-ridding sense is of a band in transition (as most of their peers, Megadeth, Metallica and Anthrax were at the same time). Priest-esque power ballad ‘The Legacy’ avoids cheese by adopting a ‘Planet Caravan’ style melody to make things eerie; whilst the progressive thrash elements on this record provide the songs that really should be better remembered – ‘Absence of Light’ is stunning, but closer ‘Seven Days of Mercy’ is a truly unheralded burst of melodic, heavy thrash.
The performances throughout are tight and sterling. Alex Skolnick naturally delivers ridiculously expert guitar wizzardry; and vocalist Chuck Billy continued his evolution into thrash’s best hook writer (his melodies add some serious weight to these tunes). The production, however, robs much of the album of its true power. Surely a full remixed and remastered catalogue is in order boys?
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