Low

Low is an ambitious sixth album on which Testament, while keeping thrash metal’s sure edge, boldly steps into lower tuning and heavy, sinking groove. Made in a new lineup after Skolnick and others departed, with James Murphy’s outstanding guitar also added, it pursues the weighty heaviness particular to the 1990s. The guitar not only chops sharply but builds up sure pressure with slow, heavy riffs. From the powerful drive of the title track “Low” and the aggressive “Dog Faced Gods” to the moving instrumental classic “Trail of Tears,” every song is engaging, while a cut like “Hail Mary” conveys the work’s fullness. Chuck Billy’s singing further widens the range of its aggressive expression, and even moving between fast songs and heavy songs, the playing’s sure precision never breaks the whole tension. Its great strength lies in beautifully transplanting the outstanding technique cultivated in Bay Area thrash into a new weight, rather than merely conforming to the era’s change. Following not only the speed but where the riffs sink deeply in mid-tempo and where the singing’s delivery switches, the breadth of its expression comes into view. An engaging, fulfilling work showing 1990s Testament’s powerful evolution.