Being a huge fan of the mid 80s/early 90s thrash era, I loved all the Testament albums released BEFORE “The Ritual”… mainly because of the heaviness of their guitar sound & the tightness of the riffs. WTF happened that made them decide to change their sound so drastically??? I like the new direction the band took but, their sound doesn’t measure up! I think it’s a sad statement for the band to go back into the studio & fix something that wasn’t broken! You don’t see Metallica re-recording the songs from their 1st 3 albums for this very reason… knock on wood.