Souls of Black to me is the best song on the album (:

Ive always hated the sound on this album, production wise, but I love most of the songs on it. xD

Probably the least played of my Testaments.
Yes, Souls Of Black is the best song.

Written by Stay (sic) on 02.01.2011 at 01:24

Souls of Black to me is the best song on the album (:

right, good song - great to play on the guitar

Written by deadone on 05.06.2014 at 09:19
Production is a real let down. The songs are ok albeit standard Testament.

My thinking has always been if there was no Souls of Black, there'd be no awesome The Ritual.

The production on Souls is terrible, but I love most of the songs themselves. "The Ritual" is a different beast altogether, but I don't think it's better or worse song-wise than Souls. I prefer it though, due to it having a decent sound. I'm generally not a fan of albums being remixed/remastered, but Souls is one of those rare exceptions which is in desperate need of remixing.

Written by deadone on 06.06.2014 at 02:52
Souls' production stops me from enjoying it. It grates. Even though the production is raw and late 1980s, the outcome has some common features found in a lot of modern Thrash albums - atonality, one dimensionality, wall of noise effect.


Totally agree on remixes/remastered - this is one of the few that could really do with one along with Carcass' Reeks of Putrefaction.

I've just finished listening to a remastered version of Souls from Japan, which was only released last year, and it sounds much, much better! The songs sound fuller, brighter, and heavier, and makes the album more enjoyable to listen to. It's one of the very rare instances where I prefer the remaster to the original!

The problem with Reek, is that the engineer ruined the sound on the master, so I don't think a remastered version of that album is possible, which sucks, as it could sorely do with being remastered...

Like I have said before somewhere this is a BAD album and not only due to its production. Especially due to its songwriting. But then again Testament went downhill concerning songwriting right after The Legacy.

Written by deadone on 07.06.2014 at 02:32
Sounds like this version needs to replace the original.

And for me, it already has. I think this is the only version I'll be listening to from now on. Unless I ever have the urge to hear the original in a fit of nostalgia.

Written by deadone on 07.06.2014 at 02:32
That sucks.

And I don't think Carcass would ever re-record it, given they've stated in the past they don't like the album.

Nope, they've never said they don't like the album. What they have said, is they hate the sound on the album, and were very upset at what the engineer had done with the master. They actually have re-recorded some of the songs from that album, and played some for Peel sessions, but unfortunately a wholesale re-recording is unlikely, which is a shame, seeing as a remix/remaster of the original seems to be impossible.

Written by deadone on 10.06.2014 at 03:17
Bill Steer stated in a Terrorizer some years ago that he didn't like the album and didn't understand what people saw in it. This was during his rock n roll days (Firebird?)

But during that time, Bill wanted to have nothing to do with metal. He said after Carcass reunited, that the way Carcass split made him very bitter and disillusioned, and so he turned his back on metal as a result, and wanted nothing more to do with it. Carcass actually would have reunited much sooner, if it wasn't for Bill. Jeff said repeatedly in interviews that he would do Carcass again, but wouldn't do it without Bill, and Bill wasn't interested. So that would very likely account for his apathetic attitude towards the album at that time.

In the Pathologist's Report documentary, Bill and Jeff said that they were very upset with what the engineer had done with the mix on that album, but because they were working to a strict schedule, and had no extra money to put towards it, they had no choice but to allow the album to be released as it was.

Cool guitar solos don't make a great album.

I have special appreciation and love to this album it is very different to the other works of the band… even the bad sound made the difference

I never warmed to Souls of Black. I think Kreator released Coma of Souls and Voivod released Angel Rat around the same time, so three of my favourite bands let me down in quite quick succession.

It took several years for all three of them to fully recover from those albums.