Review: Testament - Dark Roots of Earth

When I was a kid I loved Testament's Legacy, New Order and Practice What You Preach.  I've always been a fan, but this recording is putting them at the top of my favorites list again.  Dark Roots of Earth starts with a track called 'Rise Up'.  It's fast, melodic, and wicked heavy, reminding me why I've always liked Testament.  Dark Roots had the bands highest opening sales release opening at number 12 on the U.S. billboard top 200 with over 20,000 'scans' in the opening week.

Alex Skolnick in my opinion has always been one of the best Metal lead players and he shows plenty of those talents in Dark Roots of Earth, he and Eric Peterson are two of the best in Metal.
Chuck Billy for a while went a little heavier, in Dark Roots he goes back to his original sound that made him so popular in the Metal scene and it's great to hear again.

For this Metal fan, Dark Roots of Earth is a must have.  It's great thrash and Testament's best effort in years. Check them out while they're touring the U.S. and Canada.

Earth Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1

click to enlargeImagine an instrumental tribute to the mellowest parts of Pink Floyd, but with all original music and you have this recording in a nutshell.

Many of you might know that Earth was the original name of Black Sabbath.This band has no connection at all with that legendary band other than maybe a slight influence. Although this is all original music, I couldn't help feeling like I wanted to sing about a lunatic on the grass. The Pink Floyd influence is that strong here! Not all Pink Floyd though. Just the wimpy stuff.

Now don’t think for a second that this band is as good as the great and mighty Pink Floyd. This band barely has a beat and there is nothing about the songs that grabbed me. This is just a few steps above Sunno in that regard. No, I don’t mean this as a good thing either. I mean that there is barely any meat here to sink ones teeth in. Everyone knows that you can't have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

Now here is the shocker for me. I found out after this entire review was writen that the band is from my hometown of Olympia, WA. Yeah, this city has a ton of bands like this. They can play for hours with no song in sight. If you are not stoned out of your mind you will be bored out of your skull. Typical Olympia stuff.