Testament

I was cranking the debut album from this fine Thrash Metal band earlier today. I absolutely love their debut album, "The Legacy". It sounds so hungry and vicious!!! I don't think they ever did quite match it again (though "The Formation of Damnation" came close!)

Any other fans of Testament? Favorite albums? Songs?

I have been lucky enough to see them live twice. Once back in 1990 with Savatage (what a great show that was!!!) and another time I saw them with Slayer and Megadeth (in 2010). Great live band!!! I love Chuck Billy. On a side note, did anyone know that Chuck used to have cancer and medical marijuana saved his life?

So ... let's talk about this legendary band from northern California!

This is one of the bands I learned about on Headbanger's Ball. I was a fan from the first time I saw this.




I quit listening to them when they got into some lyrics and imagery I don't want to support, but back in the early days, they were a favorite of mine.

I like Testament a good bit.  They were the 5th "national" thrash band I ever saw, after Megadeth (1/88), Rigor Mortis & Death Angel (9/88), and Stone (opening for Testament a little later that fall--Raven was also on the bill but I never considered them thrash?).

I've probably caught them live about 10 times or so since then, most recently in 2013(?) and they have *always* been great live, although I find their catalog a little bit hit-and-miss.  Chuck Billy is a beast of a vocalist, and the current rhythm section is second-to-none.

First Strike Still Deadly (re-recordings of tunes off their 1st two albums, for anyone who doesn't know), Low, The Gathering, and Dark Roots of Thrash are all spotless, front-to-back, IMHO.

I remember that part about marijuana and other alternative treatments for Chuck's cancer, but he'd be the first to tell you he was into smoking well prior to that.   Wish I'd had the funds to fly out to attend that "Thrash of the Titans" benefit back in 2001.  VIO-LENCE!!

Also, I remember their label was hyping like heck in the lead-up to their debut album.  I saw some kind of promo card which read something to this effect:  "In 1983, Megaforce Records brought you Metallica.  In 1987, we bring you TESTAMENT."

Looking back, maybe the hype was justified!

The guitar solo in Over The Wall is the business.

Their first album is a masterpiece and the best thrash debut of all-time!

The solos are brilliant.  My band has played some of the songs on this album live and I always love learning his solos!  So classy, melodic, technical, and stylish!

Steve Souza had a big hand in making this album great too.

Temple of Blood wrote:The solos are brilliant.  My band has played some of the songs on this album live and I always love learning his solos!  So classy, melodic, technical, and stylish!

Totally.  Alex Skolnick is a genius, IMO.

On the back of one of the first two records (too lazy to dig out the vinyl) it says,

"TESTAMENT is:
Louie Clemente
Eric Peterson
Greg Christian
Alex Skolnick
Chuck Billy
Y"

For those that missed it, that's

L
E
G
A
C
Y,

the band's name before it changed to Testament.   One of the members once told me that was even the order that the members joined the band--which would have been even cooler--but it turns out that Eric formed the band and Louie joined later.

Glen Alvelais did an amazing job of replacing Alex and replicating his style.  I actually enjoy his solos a lot more than Alex these days.

That's cool there are a lot of Testament fans here!

I'd rank their catalogue like so:

1. The Legacy
2. The Formation of Damnation
3. First Strike Still Deadly
4. The Gathering
5. The New Order
6. Practice What You Preach
7. Souls of Black
8. Dark Roots of the Earth
9. Demonic
10. The Ritual
11. Low

I like them all!!!

The New Order, Practice What You Preach, Ritual and Low are all killer discs....The Ritual is my favorite (i.e. Return To Serenity)

pathogenics_cloned_twin83 wrote:The New Order, Practice What You Preach, Ritual and Low are all killer discs....The Ritual is my favorite (i.e. Return To Serenity)

Good ones! Have you ever heard "The Legacy" dude?

Yeah I have that one too, I like it, but I can't say I play it as much as the others I mentioned.

I love The New Order and Practice What You Preach, but those are the only albums I like.

The Ritual was my introduction to them. I later scored Souls of Black on cassette in a cut out bin around Christmas 1992. Became a big fan.

First 4 albums are my favs.

I saw them a few times back in the day. I wasn't really a big fan though. There was something too polished about their sound that didn't suit my tastes well back then. Definitely a great band though.

The last time I remember seeing them was there last show as Legacy. I went mostly because my friends were going.




There was/is a water park in San Jose called Raging Waters. I used to wish they would play their song by the same title when I would go. Silly me.

d@v!d wrote:I saw them a few times back in the day. I wasn't really a big fan though. There was something to polished about their sound that didn't suit my tastes well back then. Definitely a great band though.

The last time I remember seeing them was there last show as Legacy. I went mostly because my friends were going.




There was/is a water park in San Jose called Raging Water. I used to wish they would play their song by the same title when I would go. Silly me.

Those were the days!  Wish I could've been there.

Temple of Blood wrote:Those were the days!  Wish I could've been there.

Yeah those were some great times for this kind of music in the Bay Area. I didn't really appreciate it at the time. There were shows pretty much every week. Pretty much every weekend my friends and I would go up to the City or to Oakland for a show.

If you look at the show list from this page for the Bay Area, you can get an idea of how it was in the mid-late 80's
http://www.metallipromo.com/metallica.html
http://www.metallipromo.com/leg.html
http://www.metallipromo.com/da.html


By the way, I really like what you do in your band. I have a copy of Overlord and when I listen, it kind of brings me back.

That website is awesome!  Thanks for sharing that.

Thanks for the kind words about our music.  I am a HUGE fan of that scene back then:  BLIND ILLUSION, FORBIDDEN EVIL, EXODUS, DARK ANGEL, etc.  I pretty much study their music like I am getting a doctorate in thrash.



Looking at these flyers shows me some bands I need to check out:  CONTROL, SACRILEGE (B.C.), KAOS, etc.

Temple of Blood wrote:That website is awesome!  Thanks for sharing that.

Thanks for the kind words about our music.  I am a HUGE fan of that scene back then:  BLIND ILLUSION, FORBIDDEN EVIL, EXODUS, DARK ANGEL, etc.  I pretty much study their music like I am getting a doctorate in thrash.



Looking at these flyers shows me some bands I need to check out:  CONTROL, SACRILEGE (B.C.), KAOS, etc.

Another from that era and place you may not know about that I'd guess you'd like.

Of course I know VIO-LENCE! 

But you're right, I do like them a lot.

Temple of Blood wrote:Of course I know VIO-LENCE! 

But you're right, I do like them a lot.

I expected you would but when you mentioned not knowing Sacrilege, I doubted a bit.

Yeah, I love that Thrash Metal scene too. I'm still filling holes in my collection from all those many years ago. I'm also glad that there was a bit of a Thrash Metal revival in the mid 00s that seems to have lasted.

I've never really been into Trhash Metal. While metallica sounds generic, boring and slow pop stuff, and slayer ultra repetitive, Testament proved me you can Thrash till death, make great albums and songs that does not fall into boredom or repetitive stuff. Great band and terribly underrated!

I always thought that the bad boys in that Bay area thrash scene was Exodus. Those guys were absolute riff monsters.