Testament
Souls Of Black

"Souls of Black" is incredibly cool thrash! Amazingly balanced, brilliantly played, and not a single note is off. I think even Chuck Billy himself said that this album was supposedly commercial and didn't really have any musical ideas. I don't know why old Chuck spouted such nonsense; maybe it was just a PR stunt (black PR, as we know, is often more effective than regular PR), or maybe he was just being disingenuous, but if every metalhead released such "commercial" albums, every one of them would be a masterpiece. Yes, it's surprisingly short and flies by, but it's listenable in one breath from the first note to the last. And the short intro "Beginning of the End" with its acoustic strumming alone is quite intriguing. It's original, damn it! And then it took off... The speed is simply incredible, and so much drive and frenzy! Truly, one can only speak highly of releases like these. I don't even know which songs to single out; they are ABSOLUTELY all 100% hits, with stunning guitar work. Alex Skolnick deserves to be mentioned as one of the key and most masterful guitarists in thrash, along with the likes of Kirk Hammett, Marty Friedman, Kerry King, and Jeff Waters. But I'd still like to highlight the penultimate track, "The Legacy." A slow, beautifully played and sung tune, it then builds into a stunning thrash buildup. You can listen to it endlessly. A magnificent album for any thrasher or simply a connoisseur of heavy music. I highly recommend it :) I'd also like to note the very good lyrics, full of symbolism and at the same time understandable, I think, to everyone. Genius. Nothing more to add.