Published on Aug 28, 1998
Of all the heavy metal bands that had any lineage to the genre
of thrash metal, the one band that should have experienced more
success was Testament. While they have always maintained a loyal
fan base, they were eclipsed by such acts as Metallica, Anthrax,
Slayer and Megadeth (all of whom were just as deserving of the
attention they received).
Signs Of Chaos: The Best Of Testament is a tribute to a band
who have never received the attention they deserved. While some of
the demonic imagery might be too much for more sensitive listeners
(yeah, right… show me a sensitive male who listens to thrash),
this collection of tracks all demonstrate just how good this band
was and is, and covers almost every album in the band’s catalog…
except for two I can think of. We’ll deal with that later.
Whether it was long-time guitarist Alex Skolnick, James Murphy,
Eric Peterson or Glen Olivas providing the six-string guitar work,
Testament has always featured a powerful guitar sound. The short
intro “Signs Of Chaos” provides enough proof of this, never mind
the fact that it will continue to be hammered into your head
throughout the length of the disc. Tracks like “Alone In The Dark,”
“The Legacy,” “Return To Serenity” and “The Ballad” all present a
solid guitar tour de force, no matter who provides the lead or
rhythm work.
Singer Chuck Billy undergoes an interesting transformation as
Testament continued to forge ahead in the ’90s. One of the more
melodic singers in the genre, Billy went from a powerful vocal
(with only a touch of screaming) in the band’s early days to more
of a growling vocal in more recent years. Unfortunately, this is
not a change I saw as being for the better. After all, it was the
strength of his vocals on tracks like “Souls Of Black” that kept
things interesting to me; why he would choose to try and sound like
a grind core vocalist is beyond me. (That type of a vocal ruins an
otherwise great cover of the previously unreleased “Draw The Line”
for me.)
Of the two unreleased tracks, “Sails Of Charon” is the most
interesting track. I can’t identify the original band that
performed it, but to hear Testament put their own spin on the song
makes a world of difference to my ears.
Of course, your view of
Signs Of Chaos will depend on how long you’ve been following
Testament. For the fans from the beginning, I would tend to think
they would mainly like tracks from albums such as
The Legacy and
The New Order, while those who got into the group around the
middle stage of their career (like myself) will probably find they
like everything – sort of a smorgasbord of metal.
Ah, but this greatest hits collection is woefully incomplete.
While it’s listed in the discography, no selections are taken from
the EP
Return To The Apocalyptic City. Granted, this disc was a
“changing of the guard” release, but I would think there was at
least one track they could have pulled from it. (It’s been years
since I listened to that tape, so I’m not in a position to
volunteer any suggestions.)
And as much as it was never released in America, the die-hard
fans could have at least been placated by including one song from
Live At Eindhoven. Better yet, why didn’t they release this
as a free “bonus disc” with the collection? Hell, even
I have a copy of the record – and I got lucky, finding it in
the “99 cent” bin many years ago in Evanston. Somehow, including at
least one track from this Holy Grail would have made this package
complete.
Ah, well, that’s all nitpicking. Fact of the matter is,
Signs Of Chaos: The Best Of Testament is a collection that
lives up to its name, and metallers old and young should find lots
to rejoice about on this collection.