When Testament started out, they had too much grind for many
to take notice of them. If they followed
that path, then they would have wound up like virtually unknown bands like
Napalm Death. Okay stop right
there. Some people love Napalm Death,
and if you are one of them, that is cool by me because I typically don’t judge
bands by the amount of fans they have.
What I like most about The Ritual is that it sounds close to
being a sellout album, such as something my wife can listen to, while still
sounding dark enough to be classified as metal.
I don’t know if the drums were triggered, but it doesn’t
sound like they were. That is always a
plus. Also, the distortion is not
overdone. I can generally tell what is
being played when the distortion knob is cranked up to 10, but when every heavy
band does that and also adds compression, it is like there is no dynamics to
the sound.
The Ritual in a way sounds almost like Testament had
admitted a failure on their earlier albums, and was going to head in the
direction of Megadeth and Metallica during the better days of their
career. If that was their mission, they
accomplished it well, and the ritual is on par with Metallica’s Kill Em’ All,
and Megadeth’s Peace Sells, But Who’s Buying.
Likewise, though Anthrax has usually gotten more attention,
especially in the early days, than Testament, Testament was much more flexible,
and in my opinion proved to be the better band.
Thus, it should come as no surprise that when the killing days of metal,
meaning the days where it became nearly extinct, Testament was able to pull
through, and eventually flourish.
So, why 5 stars?
This album deserves 5 stars because anyone should be able to
listen to it, appreciate it, and have something positive to say about it, no
matter who they are or what walk of life they come from.
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