Brendan Crabb, Journalist

"We put a lot of money into it, so we have to take breaks where we can. We’ve all got day jobs and (then the band) save up more to move to the next stage."

As abrasive as his hoarse bark is, Brian Fair’s limitations have always been most apparent during melodic choruses and lightening his load helps, given the greater emphasis on clean singing.

Can we just move past the so-called debate about the Big Four and say Testament are making ball-tearing LPs exceeding not their contemporaries, but also the younger breed? Good. Dark Roots Of Earth kills.

A semi-reunion isn’t happening, so diehards best take this. Regardless of its shortcomings, Dime would approve.

Being in the post-metal game isn’t a full-time occupation, but it does afford Philadelphia’s Rosetta seemingly unobstructed creative freedom. Brendan Crabb takes a long, hard gaze at his shoes while talking to guitarist Matthew Weed.

Death metal’s scene police may angrily tear Nile patches off their battle jackets at the prospect of long-standing titans going beyond their usual realms, but this record is much the better for it.

“It feels like a second chance for us... The last album didn’t do so well."

"‘Holy shit, look what that band did’. They took something that was stagnant and totally reinvented it."