Practice What You Preach

Practice What You Preach
Studio album by Testament
Released August 4, 1989[1]
Recorded 1989 at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California
Genre Thrash metal
Length 46:06
Label Atlantic/Megaforce
Producer Alex Perialas
Testament chronology

The New Order
(1988)		 Practice What You Preach
(1989)		 Souls of Black
(1990)
Singles from Practice What You Preach
  1. "Practice What You Preach"
    Released: 1989
  2. "Greenhouse Effect"
    Released: 1990
  3. "The Ballad"
    Released: 1990

Practice What You Preach is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Testament. It was released in 1989 on Atlantic/Megaforce.

Background

The lyrical themes of Practice What You Preach are more about politics and society than the occult themes of the band's previous two albums. The title track of this album was a moderate mainstream rock hit, which featured a music video that gained substantial MTV airplay, as did "The Ballad".[2] By June 1992, Practice What You Preach had sold over 450,000 copies in the U.S,[3]

According to setlist.fm, the title track is among Testament's most-played songs, having been performed live by the band over 465 times, behind only "Into the Pit" (504) and "Over the Wall" (519), respectively taken from Testament's previous studio albums The New Order and The Legacy.[4] "Confusion Fusion" is the only song from Practice What You Preach that has never been performed live.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [5]

Reviews for Practice What You Preach have generally been favorable. Allmusic's Alex Henderson awards it three stars out of five, and for the album, he claims that Testament placed "more emphasis on subjects like freedom of choice, political corruption, hypocrisy, and the effects of greed and avarice" and that "its musical approach is much the same -- under the direction of metal producer Alex Perialas."[5]

Practice What You Preach entered the Billboard 200 album charts in September 1989, a month after its release.[6] The album peaked at number 77 and remained on the chart for twelve weeks.[7]

Touring and promotion

Testament toured for less than a year to promote Practice What You Preach. They embarked on a one-month U.S. tour in October 1989 with Annihilator and Wrathchild America (who had just released their respective debut albums Alice in Hell and Climbin' the Walls), and played two shows in California with Nuclear Assault and Voivod in December.[8] The second leg of the Practice What You Preach tour began in January 1990, when Testament was supporting Mortal Sin in Germany and the UK with Xentrix and Horse London.[8] Following their first visit to Japan in February, Testament embarked on a two-month U.S. tour with Savatage, which featured support from Nuclear Assault, Dead Horse and Dark Angel.[8] After the Practice What You Preach tour came to an end in May 1990, Testament began work on their fourth studio album Souls of Black.

Track listing

All music composed by Chuck Billy, Alex Skolnick, Eric Peterson, Greg Christian and Louie Clemente.

No. TitleLyrics Length
1. "Practice What You Preach"  Billy, Peterson, Skolnick 4:54
2. "Perilous Nation"  Skolnick 5:50
3. "Envy Life"  Peterson 4:16
4. "Time Is Coming"  Billy 5:26
5. "Blessed In Contempt"  Billy, Skolnick, Peterson 4:12
6. "Greenhouse Effect"  Skolnick 4:52
7. "Sins of Omission"  Billy, Peterson, Skolnick 5:00
8. "The Ballad"  Skolnick, Billy 6:09
9. "Nightmare (Coming Back to You)"  Skolnick 2:20
10. "Confusion Fusion" (Instrumental)  3:07

Personnel

Additional background vocals

Front cover painting by William Benson.

Charts

Chart (1989) Peak
position
The Billboard 200 77
German Albums Chart 29[9]

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Testament Practice What You Preach CD. Testament Practice What You Preach CD. 2010 (retrieved 28 Jan 2010)
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "Testament Tour Statistics". setlist.fm. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Henderson, Alex. Practice What You Preach at AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  6. ↑ "Practice What You Preach - Testament". Billboard. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  7. ↑ "Testament Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "The Legacy / Testament Shows". Metallipromo. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  9. ↑