Practice What You Preach

<i>Practice What You Preach</i> is a thrash album: deafening, hostile, frenzied and vehemently anti-authoritarian. Yet it also boasts a truckload of chunky rhythms and fuzzy riffs that speak to Testament’s love for rawk. In this sense, it’s a great crossover effort. “Perilous Nation” nails the band’s vision with its supple balance of violent lunges in tempo and in-the-pocket swing—not necessarily groove metal, but it comes close. Even more impressive in its agility is “Greenhouse Effect”, a seething environmental anthem that reveals the band’s conservationist sympathies.