Brotherhood of the Snake

Testament haven’t lost steam yet. The album starts off with the title track, which has a fucking behemoth sod-off riff, followed by the best scream Chuck Billy’s ever done. The song’s a doozy, the verse just rips, I love it. The production is the same as Dark Roots, but with a louder bass, and I believe it’s the best-sounding Testament album to date. The drums are still technical, Chuck’s vocals are powerful as all hell, and Alex and Eric are still murdering their guitar parts. The Pale King follows suit, great riffs and vocals throughout, there are varied tempos and sections on every track on this record, which makes it even better. Almost every riff has an emotional feel to it, I love it. The solo to Stronghold is fucking amazing, and Seven Seals is a great mixture of riffs and melodies, with a crazily good spoken word section by Billy. Black Jack and Neptune’s Sphere are both galloping tanks, and Canna-business brings some light-hearted fun to the record. Overall, great album, it’s fun and gripping, and although I didn’t enjoy it as much as Formation or Dark Roots, because of the creepy and dramatic nature of those albums, this was still a strong release that I’d highly recommend.

The musicianship retains the precision of the rest of the 2000's Testament material, the guitars have a chunky EQ while still balancing out brutal riffs with beautiful solos, while The Brotherhood of the Snake contains within its grooves something entirely new. The record is chaotic, more so than Dark Roots of Earth or The Formation Of Damnation, the title track signifies that immediately, everything is more thrashy, it's quicker, fuller and less predictable, relying less on heavy, structured songs and focusing more on a spontaneous writing approach that keeps the listener's attention peaked, and is even a call back to Practice What You Preach. It also helps a lot that one of the most respected drummers in all of metal, Gene Hoglan, plays on this album, who has played with the likes of Death, Dark Angel, Opeth and even early Slayer. Steve DiGiorgio's bass tone is improved on this record, and his rapid playing matches the riffs seamlessly. Definitely check this album out, it's an interesting one, to say the least.