Testament - Practice What You Preach - guest review
Testament - Practice What You Preach - guest review
Band
Testament Album
Practice What You Preach Style
Bay Area thrash metal Release date
August 04, 1989 Tracklist
01. Practice What You Preach02. 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
Guest review by
Iron Nostarion September 24, 2011
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"
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by Iron Nostarion | September 24, 2011
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments:
11
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---- To their tombs the people are immured, There is their gold, treasure and wealth, The only condition is to ignore them, Those who feed on corruption and weave death
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Posts: 43 |
Posts: 43
When I first listened to PWYP I imagined that this would be Metallica if Dave Mustaine were on lead vocals  Anyway apart from my random comment, good review!
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| JohnDoe
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JohnDoe
Account deleted Written by Veil of Maya on 24.09.2011 at 21:04 I disagree, Chuck is a better vocalist than both Hetfield and Mustaine.
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| Posts: 289 |
Posts: 289 Written by [user id=17278] on 24.09.2011 at 21:06 I agree with Chuck being better.. Well except if you come to death growling, he's horrible..
---- To their tombs the people are immured, There is their gold, treasure and wealth, The only condition is to ignore them, Those who feed on corruption and weave death
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Posts: 43 Written by [user id=17278] on 24.09.2011 at 21:06 I've listened to too much Metallica and Megadeth to make an unbiased opinion about that.
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| Void Eater
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Void Eater
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Sounds like a radio rock band attempting to play thrash. Boooooooorrrrriiiiiiiiing  ; give me The Legacy and The New Order instead.
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Posts: 199
I agree with you .. this album an awesome album Thanks for this very good review \../
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Posts: 289 Written by [user id=111774] on 25.09.2011 at 02:17 The thoughts you have now stroke me at the first time or two I've listened to the album. However, the songs begin to unfold and reveal awesome shit after giving this album a few more listens. Though, as you said, I really prefer New Order and Legacy over this album, as well.
---- To their tombs the people are immured, There is their gold, treasure and wealth, The only condition is to ignore them, Those who feed on corruption and weave death
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| metalheadpunk
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