Tenet – Sovereign

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Tenet is essentially a thrash metal supergroup 13 years in the making, masterminded by Strapping Young Lad guitarist Jed Simon, originally with Zimmer’s Hole bandmate Steve Wheeler on drums. Former Forbidden/Testament guitarist Glen Alvelais joined in for the demo process and after getting a deal with Century Media so did SYL bassist Byron Stroud and high-demand drummer Adrian Erlandsson. Erlandsson was quickly replaced by SYL/Death drummer Gene Hoglan due to Erlandsson’s heavy schedule and eventually Exodus vocal legend Steve Souza joined completed the line-up. This disappointingly brief debut is everything you would expect from this collection of genre veterans. A very heavy mix of classic thrash and the extreme sound SYL focused on. In places Souza is having to try a little too hard to be aggressive, but for the most part the nine blistering tracks are some of the heaviest thrash songs to be released this year. Most tracks are fast, of course, but there is the occasional bit of variation, like the ominous chug of Going Down (also the disc’s longest track at six minutes), to break up the flow a little, and not once does the relentless thrash of the rest of the album get repetitive or boring. In fact, Sovereign is so good, it makes it even more of a shame that it’s about twenty minutes too short.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Thrash Metal, Tenet