Brotherhood of the Snake

It seems like a new phase, where the band releases a record every four years. Not necessarily a terrible thing. Maybe age is a factor? Or touring? Or needing more time to develop quality material? Whatever factor it is, as long as the band manages to keep up with what they’ve written from Dark Roots of Earth and do it better, that’s all that counts. With the original bassist being replaced by a returning Steve DiGiorgio, I consider this as a step up. Yet by having Gene Hoglan as well, the band feels more extreme in the thrash metal essence.

The opening title track is a banger! I don’t recall of Testament writing such powerful opening songs since their debut album (that opening song being Over the Wall). The Pale King is mostly catchy, but shows more technicality and sounds like an old school song. Stronghold brings back structure from The Gathering. It’s like the band saw some potential in their older material to rejuvenate and make it sound great again. Speaking of old school, Seven Seals is in that category as well. Although slower instrumentally, the song sounds like a combo of Dark Roots of Earth and Practice What You Preach. When I thought there wouldn’t be any blast beats, the second portion of the album neglects that notion. The second half is overall fast, catchy, energetic and sometimes slow and melodic. And finally for the bonus song, they re-recorded Apocalyptic City right. Sounds as good as the original, but doesn’t beat the original!

Born in a Rut may be heavy, but it’s poorly delivered, kinda like The Formation of Damnation. Of course, I can’t just compare one song to an entire album since said album wasn’t even technical, while this song is. But again, its delivery was poor. The last two songs are pretty straightforward but weak; perhaps the weakest songs on the album. But honestly, Testament have written way worse songs than these three.

I’m as surprised as anyone who listened to this album; good or bad. Brotherhood of the Snake is a solid record. While it’s not as powerful or as surprising as Dark Roots of Earth, it gives the listener a taste of simply fast, technical, and heavy songs. The album also reintroduces some old sounds back; as I already mentioned Practice What You Preach and The Gathering. Supposedly, they didn’t picture the idea like Dark Roots of Earth, but it holds on its own just fine. Again, that’s what a strong lineup does, and this slight change of direction wasn’t bad at all. Whoever disliked it, I do agree that the delivery could have been better in an unpredictable way. However, I think it’s only for the best to stay in this quality-maintenance position the band is at right now. The best songs are the first three songs and Black Jack.