Souls of Black

Music lovers who can’t quite grasp the thundering din of speed metal will never curl up for a cozy evening of Testament. But there’s actually something to be said in favor of this group. While other speed metal bands have gained a wider audience — Metallica with their genius, Slayer and Megadeth because of their snide charisma, and Anthrax, due to their heartwarming social consciousness — Testament remains a purist thrash group for purist thrash fans. Souls of Black, its fourth full-length album, is exactly what should be expected — it’s loud, angry, and proud, but, despite its musical mastery, adds nothing new to the formula that brought Testament near-gold success on last year’s equally excellent album, Practice What You Preach. If this band wants to stay in contention with the big boys of thrash, it might have to vary its straight-ahead attack. B+