Band:	Testament
Album:	Practice What You Preach
Style:	Bay Area thrash metal
Release date:	August 04, 1989
Guest review by:	Iron Nostarion

01. Practice What You Preach
02. Perilous Nation
03. Envy Life
04. Time Is Coming
05. Blessed In Contempt
06. Greenhouse Effect
07. Sins Of Omission
08. The Ballad
09. Nightmare (Coming Back To You)
10. Confusion Fusion

As the last installment of Testament's "big three" albums, a series of well-done thrash metal classics, Practice What You Preach comes in the last years of thrash's Golden Age. With great production, clever riffs and astounding solos, as well as decent vocal work, this album is probably one of the best metal albums of 1989 and a certain classic of the band. It also has a distinctive place at the frayed ends of Testament's prowess; before they turned into a less interesting and less creative style followed from Souls of Black through Demonic.

This album has also had lots of impact on the thrash community back then and one can see why. Of the most obvious reasons, you have Alex Skolnick. This god of a guitarist pretty much plays some awesome solos that sound very memorable and very technical at the same time. But, aside from that, Eric Peterson also delivers with well-done, memorable riffs and shredding; for example, the riffs of "Practice What You Preach" and "Sins of Omission" can attract you to the song from the first listen and hook you on to the rest of the album. Top all of that guitar work with Chuck Billy's decent vocals (although I have to admit he goes way too far in the Hetfield imitation on this record), add to it Greg Christian's great bass lines, and finally enjoy Louie Clemente's somewhat distinctive drumming style, and you get a Testament album at its finest.

Now, after all that praise, this album still has its bad moments. You can safely assume that there are three "tiers" of song quality here. You have tier 1 songs, thrash classics like "Practice What You Preach", "Perilous Nation" and the rather interesting instrumental "Confusion Fusion", then you have the tier 2 songs, which are good but not as good, such as "Envy Life" and "Time Is Coming", and finally you have tier 3: the outright repetitive; "Greenhouse Effect" and "Blessed in Contempt" especially. With barely understandable and shallow lyrics, riffs that are not bad but barely good enough to match with tier 1, those songs certainly resemble a downfall of interest in the album when you hear them after certain masterpieces like the title track and "Perilous Nation".

Also, the originality is certainly a factor here, and one who is not experienced may actually mistaken this album for Metallica. The Metallica imitation is at its best in this album, obviously, take Chuck's Hetfield-voice and listen to the guitars and drums in "The Ballad", as if it is "Fade to Black II". Still, though, the riffs and solos remain solid and original, and the sound is still a bit different, but this is perhaps the least original work Testament has put out.

Overall, this album is a great listen and a definite recommendation for thrash metal fans, but be wary, it has a few songs that should not be there.

Highlights: "Practice What You Preach", "Perilous Nation", "Sins of Omission", "The Ballad", "Confusion Fusion"