Testament-First strike still deadly

Prosthetic
2001/2008 Re-issue



I never actually heard this when it first came out years ago, but back in 2001 Testament decided to re-record some of their early songs. I am not usually big on the idea of a whole album of re-recorded songs and that was the main reason I didn't pursue this CD back then. Yet as the re-issue came out I decided to check it out because by the second half of the 1990's Testament had gotten way heavier and their music had become more involved. There seemed to be enough of a reason to believe that doing their old tracks might result in some fairly worthwhile results. I put in the disc and was immediately puzzled by the rather dull production values that really were not quite as sharp as this band's material back in 1987-88. That's just production though, the real key is what they do with the music. The answer is unfortunately not a whole lot as the changes here are surprisingly minimum. There are a few flourishes here and there, but most are minimal and the misses are more than the hits. The misses are that on a number of the critical pace changes they don't hit it nearly as sharp or as bold as they did the first time around. This makes them sound a little old as it's like saying you can hit a home run like you used and then swinging just enough to get a single. Chuck Billy's are fine if he was only aiming to do the songs just as they were originally done. Yet his style had changed to a more death metal growl on Testament's mid-late 90's efforts. I was hoping for at least a little of those growls, but he just kind of stays the course and rolls it out like he did way back then only slightly less aggressive. Really this is just an alright album that doesn't add a whole lot to what they did on the original versions. I just can't imagine anyone except real Testament diehards who want everything by the band feeling the need to buy this album.