Album Review: Testament - Dark Roots Of Earth

A few years back, thrash's new brigade arrived and suddenly mullets, high-tops and battle jackets were trendy again. However, while the upstarts largely recycled the genre's glory years, the old hands sought progression. The result was Testament, Exodus and Overkill making some of their most visceral music yet.

Although unfashionable for a while and experiencing lineup shifts, Testament's quality has rarely dipped. Okay, Demonic was a bit of a slog to get through, but even less celebrated efforts like Low and The Gathering delivered. 2008's The Formation Of Damnation was a cracking reminder of their considerable powers too. This album's bookends – live call-to-arms Rise Up and Last Stand For Independence – are a high-octane balance of aggression and articulate musicality. Which in itself captures much of the record's vitality; they attack these songs with such vigour, but temper it with the songwriting smarts and precision of 25-year veterans. True American Hate's sheer ruthlessness defies their age (and the best exhibition of the Skolnick/Peterson guitar tandem's chemistry), while the title track or Cold Embrace could slot alongside previous darker, slow-burning epics like The Legacy or Trail Of Tears. Man Kills Mankind offers further blistering fare with a memorably melodic edge, Chuck Billy's sandpaper-coated vocals still resonating. Gene Hoglan and Lamb of God's Chris Adler share drum duties; the latter's mere mention may raise grizzled thrashers' ire, but reared on bands like this, he's a suitable inclusion. 

Can we just move past the so-called debate about the Big Four and say Testament are making ball-tearing LPs exceeding not their contemporaries, but also the younger breed? Good. Dark Roots Of Earth kills.