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Rating: There is no 2 without 3... Yes... It's a shame no one notices.
Let’s be honest... In the music field nothing is allowed. In many cases, a band’s success (and appreciation for the band itself) is directly proportional to its static nature.
Woe to changing something, woe to playing differently, woe to attempting experiments (unless they are so radical as to be revolutionary), and woe to developing different musical solutions.
With this premise (and conviction) I am about to review what I consider one of the best Thrash Metal albums of the late eighties from the Bay Area: the controversial "Practice What You Preach," the third work by Testament.
Why controversial?
Maybe because it came after those two Thrash milestones "The Legacy" and "The New Order"? No! Maybe because it tried to imitate the sound of the more famous Metallica (which is absolutely not true in my opinion)? No! Maybe because it seemed to wink at certain "easy listening" solutions that were interpreted as an attempt to make everything more "accessible"? No (and enough already... damn it)!
Controversial simply because few were able to understand the real intent that Testament had set since they formed in 1983 under the name Legacy: trying to propose a devastating, fast, and aggressive music (in line with the Thrash movement) but introducing a "melodic sensitivity", which no one had ever proposed before (at least in the Bay Area). Achieving the intent of the great artists of Heavy Metal: fusing brutality and melody into a single, boiling, musical pot.
Their debut in 1987 was one of the most devastating and acclaimed in the world Metal scene, which rested on violent and fast Thrash foundations but at the same time presented a tight-knit, original band, full of ideas, with an incredible ability to develop them and with a maturity that no other group had shown on their debut... Yet it was already clear with songs like "Alone in The Dark" the harmonic approach diversity that set them apart from most of their peer and homegrown bands. The subsequent "The New Order" was seen by many as a reaffirmation of the previous work's sound, but to the more attentive, it was immediately clear the evolutionary development attempted and accomplished by them: reinvigorating everything in an aggressive synthesis of firm and square tones, with softening of the sounds which corresponded to a softening of the cutting and "raw" characteristics of the legendary debut (melody becomes much more part of the DNA of the songs compared to the works of their cousins Metallica and does not limit itself to sudden breaks put here and there).
But it is with this third album that Testament made the decisive step towards sound research, tending towards the song form, started with previous works.
Let's say that for Thrash fans (and of previous albums) it was quite a blow... Testament's "sound journey" was soon smeared with accusations of high treason aimed at gain, and many lamented the loss of the "old" works.
But let’s not misunderstand... The album in question is absolutely not "easy". We are not dealing with a work of simple assimilation or soft sounds... The boldness and the fast and brutal frontal assault are characteristics that don't abandon them (listen to the tense Title-Track in this regard), we can only say that in this work we find, hidden here and there, Heavy streaks that alternate with Thrash slashes mixed together with melodic and very varied parts concentrated in Louie Clemente's drum rhythms and in the truly exciting guitar work at times (let's remember that Testament counted among their ranks one of the best and most talented guitarists of the time, Alex Skolnick, later in Savatage and a myriad of rock projects).
With this "Practice What You Preach", Testament do exactly what they secretly preached from the beginning, trying to smooth out the Thrash roughness to derive a music aimed at pleasing all the demanding Metal people.
The work is truly very varied: frantic moments of high Thrash school (the title track and the very violent "Sin Of Omission"), neoclassical solos with incredible melodic balances (by the great Skolnick), Rock-oriented recalls ("Perilous Nation"), melancholy "changeable" relaxations ("The Ballad", a song you could play to your grandmother and then watch her flip on the rocking chair), outbursts on the edge of Punk-Hardcore (the very fast "Nightmare") and deep instrumental and erratic rhythms ("Confusion Fusion").
Chuck Billy's vocal lines, although sometimes dangerously close to Hetfield's style, are definitely more ductile and dynamic (as well as varied and personal) compared to his more famous colleague (in this work we hear the first growl hints that will characterize the more recent releases).
The only "formal" flaw, according to yours truly, lies in the monotonous production that does not fully emphasize the compositional effort made by the group.
Ultimately this album may not be as powerful, aggressive, and raw as its incredible predecessors (and I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing... you decide) but it is very pleasant and greatly inspired, and it certainly cannot be said that in this record Testament betray the intents, perspectives, and ideals of their music.
Subsequently, they will lose themselves in the darkest period of their career, marked by constant line-up upheavals and a determined, stubborn, and sometimes excessive search for the "song form" which will lead the band to experiment with not always successful solutions (especially with the criticized "The Ritual")... In the long run, they will manage to recover and produce one of the best Metal works of the late millennium ("The Gathering") before leaving us fans with bated breath in anticipation of a new and apocalyptic return.
Practice What You Preach remains the last great Metal piece by Testament in the eighties, which stands alongside its predecessors without disgrace (even though different) and is one of the few attempts to reinvigorate and reassess a sound (Thrash) which in those years (1989/90) began to dangerously creak and crumble precisely because of its staticity.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Practice What You Preach (04:55)
You think your life's so grand
You don't believe a word you say
Your feet aren't on the ground
You let your life just slip away
Just so uncertain of your body and your soul
The promises you make your mind go blank
and then you lose control, then you lose control!
I never was the one, the one to say
the things you say
Never seem to wonder what you say
You think you've got your life completely in control
You've got a lot to learn, the bridge you burned
It's gonna take its toll!!! Pay the burnt bridge toll!!!
So practice what you preach!
Practice What You Preach!
Practice What You Preach!
Practice What You Preach!
You think your life's so grand
You don't believe a word you say
Your feet aren't on the ground
You let your life just slip away
Just so uncertain of your body and your soul
The promises you make your mind goes blank
and then you lose control
Pay the burnt bridge toll, then you lose control
Pay the burnt bridge toll, so practice what you preach!
Practice What You Preach!
Practice What You Preach!
Practice What You Preach!
02 Perilous Nation (05:52)
Bold is the one who dares to say what he feels
Renegation man, to one he yeilds
The bleeding hearts and empty minds, hiding words they fear
Blind is the one who censors what we see and hear
Come into my world and take a journey with me
Paint me a portait now, of the things you see
Men are poor and lost in war of ideology
No solution will prevail unless we can be
Free on anger, free of pain
Free of hatred that we obtain
Tell me what this place was meant to be
Can you see? Can you see what it does to me?
Can you hear? Can you red?
Can you see what it did to me!
Totalitarians in a Perilous Nation
Forcing through control turns, to desolation
Listen to the leader speak, he's your only friend
Take a stand in the motherland, take it to the end
Say now what you will, before they make it illegal
Time to draw the line, between the bad and the evil
Distant times had friendly rules, became its deadliest foe
We have heard it all before, the morals come and go
Men are poor and lost in war of ideology
No solution will prevail unless we can be
Free on anger, free of pain
Free of hatred that we obtain
Tell me what this place was meant to be
Free on anger, free of pain
Free of hatred that we obtain
Tell me what this place was meant to be
Can you see? Can you see what it does to me?
Can you hear? Can you red?
Can you see what it did to me, can you hear? Can you read?
Can you see what it did to me
Can you hear? Can you read?
Can you see what it did to me...
05 Blessed in Contempt (04:14)
All that can escape me, all I realize
That it will come back to me the day my father dies
His burning eyes would stare at you
I was born a masochise
I cried out in pain, as he clenches up his fist
Slowly as the years go by, the darkness builds inside
Trying to find a passage out, before I lose my mind
Ingestuous temptation but what is wrong or right
Why must I fall victim of hereditary spite
Soon! we will arise, forming despise
Conceptual intent
Blessed in contempt!
Thoughts have now come back to me
It's time to perpetrate
Take me to my sanity, before it gets too late
Hear me as I call to you, right here down below
Resurrect my will to live, come before i... go!
Soon! we will arise, forming despise
Conceptual intent
Blessed in contempt!
06 Greenhouse Effect (04:53)
Fools the ones who stray, the rain forest burns away
Know what to believe, this is the air we breathe
So the world we know is dying slow in south america
Flames are burning down, all the trees to the ground
Time is running low, we can't stay no more
Wealth these people see, fight for eternity
Lies they televise paid by the government
There on! It lingers on
And they don't even care if they...
Seal the planet's fate
Crimes they perpetrate
Wasting precious land
It's time to take a stand
Our only hope to breathe again
To stop the madness closing in
What will we do when all is lost
Environmental holocaust...
Our only hope to breathe again
To stop the madness closing in
What will we do when all is lost
Environmental holocaust...
Foes these people go, someone destroyed their home
Plagued with disease, left praying on their knees
Laws protect the land, social justice in demand
Smoke it fills the air into the atmosphere
Now it's time to see a cycle of a tragedy
On! It lingers on, and they don't even care if they...
Seal the planet's fate
Crimes they perpetrate
Wasting precious land
It's time to take a stand
Our only hope to breathe again
To stop the madness closing in
What will we do when all is lost
Environmental holocaust...
Our only hope to breathe again
To stop the madness closing in
What will we do when all is lost
Environmental holocaust...
07 Sins of Omission (05:01)
The day's vanished in the night, soon the children pray
Pray themselves alone, te hate build from their pride
You can't take away, can't take what they own!
The eyes watching from the sky, guides them throug the haze
Calling far away, the rain is black as black, black as night
Oh let them pray!
False sense of pride, satisfies
There's no reason for suicide
Use your mind, and hope to find
Find the meaning of existence...
The cry's answers wonder why, why it's time to die
Time to die alone, cause I'm wasting too much time
Wandering down the line reason why I go my own!
False sense of pride, satisfies
There's no reason for suicide
Use your mind, and hope to find
Find the meaning of existence...
08 The Ballad (06:08)
"I'm not one to say
Where my feelings are going when they wither away
I pray to see another day
My heart's feeling like a needle lost in the hay
Restrained to meet again
My friend do you think that we ever will
I know we are free...
The games are played with your life on the line
Some lose, you win if you keep on trying
I don't mind doing time, I'm happier being alive
Now I know the means to my opression were all lies
The only truth is your own most sacred lesson I've ever learned
I know we are free...
I've been robbed, I've been fooled
I intend now to make my own rules
Dagger's edge cut the line, I've been down that road
too many times
What's to fear, fear no more
Show my conscience what fears's for
Now I know this is so real
What's done is done so do as you will!
I'm keeping alive! Go on, no don't look back
Just realize where you've gone
Where are you going to, no lifes not done with you
You're only just begun, to live your life!
for you..."
09 Nightmare (Coming Back to You) (02:20)
You wanted money, you wanted fame
You broke the rules before you knew the game
Wounds tearing you up like a knife
Wish it was the end of your life, it's a nightmare
Going down that road on account of you
No escape from the things you put me through
I don't know, I don't care, I cant go anywhere,
It's a nightmare coming back to you!
Don't wanna die, just wanna live!
I've got stop taking wath they give
So many roads moving all around
I only see the one going down, it's a nightmare
Going down that road on account of you
No escape from the things you put me through
I don't know, I don't care, I cant go anywhere,
It's a nightmare coming back to you!
We got to fight, we got to try
When all is gone we'll know the reason why
To kill the enemy we will win the wars
To find the place our life was before, it's a nightmare
Going down that road on account of you
No escape from the things you put me through
I don't know, I don't care, I cant go anywhere,
It's a nightmare coming back to you!... to you! to you!...
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