TESTAMENT

Thrash Metal • United States

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Testament was one of the first thrash metal bands to emerge from the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1980s. Originally formed as 'Legacy' in 1983 by founding members Eric Peterson (rhythm guitar), Derrick Ramirez (guitar) and Louie Clemente (drums), the line-up included vocalist Steve Souza and Greg Christian (bass). Ramirez was later replaced by wunderkind Alex Skolnick (lead guitar). Souza soon departed to join Exodus and suggested that the towering Chuck Billy take over as frontman(and was later run over by a bus). The band became known as 'Testament' 3 years later, while recording their debut album in Ithaca, New York.

"The Legacy" was a brutal intro in 1987, putting Testament at the forefront of the flourishing thrash metal scene. Following "Live At Eindhoven", an EP recorded at Holland's Dynamo Festival, "The New Order" in 1988 was well received producing one of the band's most memorable classics "Disciples Of read more...

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TESTAMENT - WWIII (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) online metal music video by TESTAMENT

TESTAMENT - WWIII (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
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TESTAMENT - Curse of Osiris (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) online metal music video by TESTAMENT

TESTAMENT - Curse of Osiris (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
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TESTAMENT - Children Of The Next Level (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) online metal music video by TESTAMENT

TESTAMENT - Children Of The Next Level (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
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TESTAMENT - Night of the Witch (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO) online metal music video by TESTAMENT

TESTAMENT - Night of the Witch (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO)
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TESTAMENT - Low (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) online metal music video by TESTAMENT

TESTAMENT - Low (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
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TESTAMENT Discography

TESTAMENT albums / top albums

4.23 | 71 ratings

The Legacy
Thrash Metal 1987

3.63 | 70 ratings

The New Order
Thrash Metal 1988

TESTAMENT Practice What You Preach album cover

3.78 | 60 ratings

Practice What You Preach
Thrash Metal 1989

3.72 | 57 ratings

Souls of Black
Thrash Metal 1990

3.53 | 49 ratings

The Ritual
Thrash Metal 1992

3.79 | 40 ratings

Low
Thrash Metal 1994

3.57 | 37 ratings

Demonic
Thrash Metal 1997

3.95 | 45 ratings

The Gathering
Thrash Metal 1999

TESTAMENT The Formation Of Damnation album cover

3.94 | 50 ratings

The Formation Of Damnation
Thrash Metal 2008

TESTAMENT Dark Roots Of Earth album cover

4.14 | 47 ratings

Dark Roots Of Earth
Thrash Metal 2012

TESTAMENT Brotherhood of the Snake album cover

3.69 | 24 ratings

Brotherhood of the Snake
Thrash Metal 2016

TESTAMENT Titans Of Creation album cover

4.09 | 23 ratings

Titans Of Creation
Thrash Metal 2020

TESTAMENT EPs & splits

3.86 | 7 ratings

Live at Eindhoven
Thrash Metal 1987

0.00 | 0 ratings

Trial by Fire
Thrash Metal 1988

TESTAMENT Return to the Apocalyptic City album cover

4.23 | 11 ratings

Return to the Apocalyptic City
Thrash Metal 1993

TESTAMENT Nuclear Blast Presents Thrash Metal album cover

0.00 | 0 ratings

Nuclear Blast Presents Thrash Metal
Thrash Metal 2008

TESTAMENT live albums

TESTAMENT Live at The Fillmore album cover

3.68 | 10 ratings

Live at The Fillmore
Thrash Metal 1995

4.10 | 6 ratings

Live in London
Thrash Metal 2005

TESTAMENT Live at Eindhoven '87 album cover

4.33 | 3 ratings

Live at Eindhoven '87
Thrash Metal 2009

TESTAMENT Dark Roots of Thrash album cover

4.47 | 7 ratings

Dark Roots of Thrash
Thrash Metal 2013

TESTAMENT demos, promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs)

0.00 | 0 ratings

Electric Crown
Thrash Metal 1992

TESTAMENT re-issues & compilations

TESTAMENT The Best of Testament album cover

4.00 | 1 ratings

The Best of Testament
Thrash Metal 1996

TESTAMENT Signs of Chaos: The Best of Testament album cover

4.00 | 1 ratings

Signs of Chaos: The Best of Testament
Thrash Metal 1997

TESTAMENT The Very Best of Testament album cover

4.00 | 1 ratings

The Very Best of Testament
Thrash Metal 2001

TESTAMENT First Strike Still Deadly album cover

3.98 | 14 ratings

First Strike Still Deadly
Thrash Metal 2001

0.00 | 0 ratings

Days of Darkness
Thrash Metal 2004

TESTAMENT The Spitfire Collection album cover

0.00 | 0 ratings

The Spitfire Collection
Thrash Metal 2007

TESTAMENT singles (4)

0.00 | 0 ratings

Kerrang! Plastic Explosive
Thrash Metal 1990

0.00 | 0 ratings

True American Hate
Thrash Metal 2012

0.00 | 0 ratings

Native Blood
Thrash Metal 2012

0.00 | 0 ratings

Animal Magnetism
Thrash Metal 2013

TESTAMENT movies (DVD, Blu-Ray or VHS)

0.00 | 0 ratings

Seen Between the Lines
Thrash Metal 1991

0.00 | 0 ratings

Live At The Omni 1988
Thrash Metal 2004

0.00 | 0 ratings

Live in Tilburg, The Netherlands
Thrash Metal 2004

0.00 | 0 ratings

Santa Monica Civic 1989
Thrash Metal 2004

0.00 | 0 ratings

Live in Osaka Japan 1999
Thrash Metal 2004

4.69 | 4 ratings

Live in London
Thrash Metal 2005

TESTAMENT Reviews

TESTAMENT The Gathering

Album · 1999 · Thrash Metal

SilentScream213

Considering all the classic 80’s Thrash bands that collapsed into chaos and failure during the 90’s, Testament stood their ground much better than most. Many consider the preceding “Demonic” one of the only missteps in their discography (and not a severe one at that), but I still see it as quite a strong album. Not only that, it was a necessary step towards this album – “The Gathering.”

The Gathering takes the experimentation with Death Metal from Demonic and and avoids the monotonous limit in style. Instead, we have a great variety of Thrash, Groove, and Death Metal, each taking center stage on certain songs while falling back on others. Thanks to the consistency in quality from song to song, the willingness to change up in style makes the album sound fresh and filled with vitality. The drumming in particular here is very strong (wasn’t until after writing this I found out it was Dave Lombardo!), and Chuck’s vocal variety is on point.

Unfortunately, it drags a bit in the second half. I much prefer Testament when they’re playing faster and heavier (such as on the opener or the insane “Legions of the Dead”), but they falter to slower grooves too often for my taste. “Careful What You Wish For” and “Allegiance” are examples of the band on low gear and not sounding particularly dark, either (their version of stadium anthems? No thanks). This is alleviated with the closing track, a fantastic burst of energy, darkness, and aggression that closes the album out perfectly.

I’d say this is probably the band’s best since Souls of Black, though I wouldn’t peg it as a mid-career masterpiece like many seem to.

4 months ago
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TESTAMENT First Strike Still Deadly

Boxset / Compilation · 2001 · Thrash Metal

UMUR

"First Strike Still Deadly" is an album release by US, California based thrash metal act Testament. The album was released through Spitfire Records in October 2001. The album features re-recordings of select tracks from the band´s first two albums "The Legacy (1987)" and "The New Order (1988)" (five tracks from each album) and a re-recording of "Reign of Terror". The latter was originally featured on the band´s "Demo 1 (1985)" (released under the Legacy monicker before the band changed their name to the current one). The track was later featured in a studio version as the B-side to the "Trial by Fire (1988)" single. The same version of the track was also featured on the 1993 "Return to the Apocalyptic City" EP. The version of "Reign of Terror" which is featured on "First Strike Still Deadly" features vocals by original Legacy (and later Exodus) singer Steve Souza. Souza also performs vocals on "Alone in the Dark", which was also featured on "Demo 1 (1985)" (and later in a re-recorded studio version on "The Legacy (1987)"). The vocals on the remaining tracks on the album are performed by regular Testament singer Chuck Billy. "First Strike Still Deadly" sees the temporary return of Alex Skolnick (lead guitars), Steve DiGiorgio (bass), and John Tempesta (drums).

Bands can have several reasons for re-recording "hits" or even full releases, but the most common reason is that they don´t own the rights to the original recordings, and rightfully want a piece of the cake. In the case of Testament that´s fully understandable (if that was the reason for the re-recording) as "The Legacy (1987)" and "The New Order (1988)" are arguably among their most popular and commercially successful releases. The problem with most (not all) re-recordings is that re-recordings of classic tracks are often overproduced, lack the rawness of the original recordings, and even worse lack the hunger and attitude, which you experience when you listen to the originals...unfortunately that´s true for "First Strike Still Deadly" too.

No one can deny that the album is filled to the brim with classic thrash metal tracks and that Testament can perform those tracks in their sleep, but unfortunatley it all sounds phoned it, completely lacking of power and conviction. Normally badass tracks like "Into the Pit", "Trial by Fire", and "The Haunting" sound so tame and domesticated that it´s almost painful listening to them. Skolnick is also given too much freedom and some of his guitar solos are given a slight jazz/fusion spin which really doesn´t fit the compositions. The sound production doesn´t save anything either, as it´s dry, lacking dynamics, and well...sounds cheap. So I´m afraid this one goes down in the books as a bad quality re-recording. It´s completely unneccesary too for fans of the band and I´m left wondering what the hell happened in the decision making process. It´s definitely the low point of Testament´s otherwise great discography. A 2.5 star (50%) is me being very generous.

5 months ago
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Report #880557

TESTAMENT The Gathering

Album · 1999 · Thrash Metal

UMUR

"The Gathering" is the eighth full-length studio album by US, California based thrash metal act Testament. The album was released through Spitfire/ Burnt Offerings in June 1999. It´s the successor to "Demonic" from 1997. "The Gathering" features an all-star lineup, which in addition to the usual suspects in lead vocalist Chuck Billy and guitarist Eric Peterson, also contains James Murphy who returns on guitar, Steve DiGiorgio on bass, and Dave Lombardo on drums. Each of them prolific and skilled musicians associated with artists like Grip Inc., Death, Slayer, Sadus, and Obituary.

The music on "The Gathering" is powerful and technically well performed thrash metal. Testament brought with them the good powerful elements from "Demonic", which means the raw power and drive of that album, and then added a more melodic touch, which points back to their sound of the 80s ("True Believer" could for example well have been featured on one of the late 80s/early 90 releases by the band). The slightly more melodic touch and the fact that Billy also delivers a more diverse vocal performance (although at times still pretty brutal and raw) give the songs a more memorable sound than the tracks on "Demonic". The addition of Dave Lombardo on the drums especially provides the music with a great organic touch. He is on fire on this album. The songs are generally high quality thrash metal compositions and "The Gathering" is overall a good quality Testament album (they´ve released both better and worse).

The album features a sound production which is powerful, raw, and heavy, and it suits the music perfectly. It´s courtesy of Andy Sneap, who would return to produce quite a few of Testament´s subsequent releases. Upon conclusion "The Gathering" was the right album to release after "Demonic" alienated some fans with it´s relentless aggression and brutality. Coming from a death metal background I never felt "Demonic" more than leaned towards death metal, and to my ears it´s still a Testament thrash metal album, just a little heavier and darker than their usual style. "Demonic" however lacked a couple of other things to make it a complete release. What I missed on "Demonic" was guitar solos and the more melodic and memorable moments of earlier Testament albums, and although there aren´t that many guitar solos on "The Gathering" either, the melodic element is more prevalent here than it was on "Demonic". So on "The Gathering" the brutality and heavy riffs are just more well balanced with the tried and true Testament elements. A 3.5 (70%) rating is deserved.

5 months ago
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TESTAMENT Demonic

Album · 1997 · Thrash Metal

UMUR

"Demonic" is the 7th full-length studio album by US, California based thrash metal act Testament. The album was released through Burnt Offerings in June 1997. It´s the successor to "Low" from 1994. The album was recorded as a four-piece. The usual suspects and the only remaining founding members are Chuck Billy on vocals and Eric Peterson on guitars while Gene Hoglan on drums and Derrick Ramirez on bass are new in the lineup (replacing Chris Kontos and Greg Christian respectively). Gene Hoglan had just finished his stint with Death and was about to start his time with Strapping Young Lad and was asked to help out, while bassist Derrick Ramirez played guitar in The Legacy which was the band that later changed their name to Testament (by then Derrick Ramirez was no longer a member), so there is some credibility to the lineup.

Compared to the groove oriented and melodic thrash metal style of "Low (1994)", the music on Demonic is generally quite different in style and sound. The departure of lead guitarist James Murphy had a big impact on how Testament approached the songwriting for "Demonic". This was arguably the most raw and heavy release by Testament up until that point (and probably still is), who on occassion even venture into death metal territory. Chuck Billy spice up his trademark vocal delivery with some semi-death grunts and the riffing could at times also be mistaken for death metal riffing albeit of the thrashier kind. When that is said "Demonic" is still a thrash metal album and Testament are still Testament. There is also a good portion of groove featured on the album, and at times I´m reminded of an artist like Lamb of God. If anything the inspiration flowed the other way, so it´s just a reference made to describe the style of music on "Demonic".

"Demonic" features a powerful, raw, and heavy sounding production, which suits the rawness and heavy nature of the material perfectly. Hoglan always deserves praise for his outstanding drumming skills and playing style and this time is no exception. Anything that man plays on is instantly made better by his contributions. Peterson is rock solid delivering loads and loads of heavy thrashy riffs and while Billy´s semi-growling vocal style isn´t always pretty and his more regular raw shouting vocal parts are a nice variation from the grunting, the vocals overall work pretty well too. As there aren´t many guitar solos to be found ("Jun-Jun" is one of the few tracks featuring prominent lead guitar work), "Demonic" is quite different from the albums preceding it, as guitar solos and lead guitar themes were always a major part of Testament´s sound. Just not on this album...

...so upon conclusion "Demonic" is one of the odd one out albums in the band´s discography, but that doesn´t mean it´s a bad quality release by any means. In fact it´s a strong groove oriented thrash metal release, featuring high level musicianship, a well sounding production job, and relatively memorable songwriting. I do miss the lead guitars, and sometimes it does feel like Testament sacrifice memorability and melody over brutality, but overall it´s a quality release. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

more than 2 years ago
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TESTAMENT Low

Album · 1994 · Thrash Metal

UMUR

"Low" is the 6th full-length studio album by US, California based thrash/heavy metal act Testament. The album was released through Atlantic Records in September 1994. It´s the successor to "The Ritual" from 1992 and features a couple of lineup changes compared to the lineup who recorded the predecessor. Drummer Louise Clemente was replaced by John Tempesta and guitarist Alex Skolnick was replaced by James Murphy. Tempesta was known for his work with Exodus while Murphy had played on albums by Death, Obituary, Cancer, and Disincarnate. Both are skilled and worthy replacements (although I personally prefer Skolnick over Murphy).

"The Ritual (1992)" introduced a new and more accessible heavy metal sound with only occasional thrash metal leanings, but with "Low", Testament are back in thrash metal mode. This time around with more focus on groove, which is audible already from the opening title track. It´s not as such groove metal, but there certainly is a strong emphasis on groove throughout the album. The music features hard edged and sharp thrash metal riffs, powerful rhythms, well played leads, and Chuck Billy´s powerful vocals in front. His singing on the album is relatively varied, and he sings both semi-clean, raw, and even occasionally brutal growling vocals.

The material on the 12 track, 47:19 minutes long album are generally well written, although not all tracks are equally remarkable. Some of the highlights include the title track and "Hail Mary", while a track like the fusion influenced instrumental "Urotsukidôji" may be a standout track, but not in a positive sense. It´s the kind of track which disrupts the album flow, and overall sounds more like the band had fun in the studio playing something different, than a track which was written specifically for the album.

"Low" features a powerful and detailed sound production and strong musical performances, but it´s not the strongest Testament album in their discography. So while it signals a (for many) welcome return to a more thrash metal oriented sound after the "softer" "The Ritual (1992)", I dare say it´s a slightly less interesting release compared to the predecessor. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

more than 2 years ago
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TESTAMENT Movies Reviews

TESTAMENT Live in London

Movie · 2005 · Thrash Metal

Kingcrimsonprog

Testament’s excellent 2005 Live In London DVD is simply one of the best live DVDs that a metal band has ever put out, and even now both sounds and looks terrific.

In terms of visuals the digital camera look presents a great true to life image which makes the footage seem higher definition than it actually is. Elsewhere, the camera work and editing is all top notch and the whole concert is just fantastic to watch.

This combined with the audio mix, which suits the material and the gig perfectly results in a all round great viewer experience.

As for the concert itself, it simply couldn’t be better. The band reunite the classic 1980s line up of Chuck Billy on vocals, Greg Christian on bass, Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick on guitar with Louie Clemente on drums (for half the set, with the first half being handled by Low-era drummer John Tempesta)

The band play a set list devoted entirely to their classic thrash-era material, with all the songs coming from the band’s first five albums. The band play many of their best songs like ‘Disciples Of The Watch,’ ‘Practice What You Preach,’ and ‘The Legacy.’

Even with all the fan service that the line up and set list represents, a concert is only as strong as the band’s performance and could still be terrible if the band are sloppy or their hearts aren’t in it. Luckily, the band are absolutely on fire and deliver one of the most energetic performances I’ve ever seen in a live DVD.

They seem so pleased to on stage and genuinely in to what they are doing and it subsequently comes across in the music, what you get is the electrifying sound of a band genuinely playing the absolute hell out of their instruments, with Chuck Billy engaging with the crowd at every opportunity, commanding the stage like an absolute master, so into the performance that he is playing air guitar (in a cynicism free way) and headbanging like a fan. This is the sort of performance that will win over non fans.

To conclude, Live In London is one of the best metal DVDs on the market, and I say that without hyperbole, even after all this time has passed since its release. Superb Audio Visual quality, Superb idea in the first place and finally a beyond-superb performance.