In the Bay Area of mid-1980s California, a heavy metal scene was forming that was angrier, louder and much, much faster than anything that came before: thrash. Progenitors Metallica are the most well-known of its alumni, but this corner of the West Coast spawned dozens of other brilliant bands seemingly unbounded by tempo, or sometimes even melody.<\/p>\n
With their blistering, high-octane riffing and superb technical chops, one of the most formidable and resilient is Testament. Despite having enough lineup changes to rival the Fall, cancer scares and the 1990s grunge takeover that edged out cut-off denim for plaid shirts, Testament are still selling out tours, gnashing at the heels of the commercially dominating Big Four metal bands \u2013 Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax \u2013 and releasing new records with just as much vigour. The most recent, Para Bellum, came out last week.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It all started in late 1983 when, fresh from high school, Eric Peterson and cousin Derrick Ramirez from Alameda near Oakland, formed Testament\u2019s precursor, Legacy. The two guitarists played their first show above a record store with local punks Rebels and Infidels, but their next \u2013 while clad in priest collars \u2013 was supporting Slayer. \u201cThat was our first taste of a sold-out crowd,\u201d says Peterson, as the band dial in from their homes across the US. \u201cWe were so nervous. We only had four songs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ramirez soon quit, so Peterson recruited local Berkeley teenager Alex Skolnick \u2013 one of the most accomplished guitarists in metal, who studied under the virtuoso Joe Satriani. \u201cI was into Ozzy and Dio,\u201d says Skolnick. \u201cEric told me: we have to speed it up!\u201d<\/p>\n
Completing the lineup was Louie Clemente on drums, bassist Greg Christian and Steve \u201cZetro\u201d Souza on vocals. They\u2019d go drinking together at the epicentre of the Bay Area thrash underground, Ruthie\u2019s Inn; Peterson and Skolnick would \u201chave a couple kamikazes [cocktails], plough our way through the crowd and just pummel people,\u201d says Peterson of the pair\u2019s boisterous moshpit demeanour. \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t know what happened \u2013 that was kind of the vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Souza quit to join fellow thrashers Exodus, leaving a gap for a frontman. The band knew a kid called Chuck Billy, known to Peterson and Clemente as The Cheese for his ever-present grin, who they\u2019d occasionally spot hovering by beer kegs at parties. \u201cHe was very quiet but had a kind of sinister laugh,\u201d says Peterson.<\/p>\n
The problem was that Billy fronted a hard-rocking glam band called Guilt: the kind of music that thrash metal fans poured scorn on, and sometimes worse. \u201cYou had to fit in: if you came from a glam band, and you went in [Ruthie\u2019s Inn] \u2013 especially at Exodus shows \u2013 I think you got beaten up,\u201d Peterson says. But when Billy decided to audition for Testament, Peterson and Clemente checked out a Guilt gig in San Francisco. \u201cThe guys had their Paul Stanley hair, doing their cute moves,\u201d says Peterson. \u201cThen Chuck came out wearing a trench coat and started breaking beer bottles over his head. He looked glam, but he had this presence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Forget trying to float a melody\u2019 \u2026 Testament in 1988. Photograph: Gene Ambo<\/p>\n
Billy got the job, and thus began his glam deprogramming. Out with the spandex \u2013 a decision Billy says he was \u201chappy for, believe me, being a big guy\u201d \u2013 and in with Reebok hi-tops. Eric coached Billy into learning how to snarl along with the frenetic, bouncing-ball pace of thrash. \u201cForget trying to float a melody,\u201d says Billy. \u201cYou have to keep up the pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
By 1986, thrash metal was peaking. It was the year of Slayer\u2019s furious 29-minute stormer Reign in Blood, Metallica\u2019s Master of Puppets and Megadeth\u2019s Peace Sells\u2026 But Who\u2019s Buying? Somehow, the riffs got faster yet more complex, technical mastery mixed in with the breakneck speed. And it was the year Testament auditioned for Megaforce, the influential label that released Metallica\u2019s first records. But the night that label owners Jon and Marsha were in town, Metallica\u2019s wildly inventive bassist Cliff Burton, then only 24, was killed in a tour bus crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur audition the next day was very sombre,\u201d says Billy. \u201cHere we were about to have the biggest performance of our lives in this unusual situation.\u201d But Megaforce signed, the band changed their name to Testament and, in 1987, released debut album The Legacy to acclaim. Crammed into a van, the band toured extensively, supporting all the thrash mainstays \u2013 except Metallica, with Billy wondering if this is because Peterson married their guitarist Kirk Hammett\u2019s ex \u2013 then climbing to top billing themselves.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But with constant touring and the pressures of recording a new album each year, this hectic schedule eventually frayed relations. \u201cFive records in a row, this pressure-cooker environment,\u201d says Skolnick. \u201cWe were very young. I was a teen on that first record. After back-to-back recording and touring, we needed some rest and a long break, which we never had.\u201d<\/p>\n
By now it was 1992 and grunge had swept in, hitting pause on thrash metal\u2019s mainstream moment. Newly on Atlantic, Testament were under pressure to release something radio-friendly, which resulted in their next record The Ritual. Now a fan favourite, it was such a departure at the time that Testament refused to play its songs live. The frazzled Skolnick left to pursue jazz, later enrolling at the New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music (his other combo, the Alex Skolnick Trio, has a new record out too). \u201cLouie and Greg were horrified,\u201d Peterson says. \u201cMe and Chuck were like, \u2018OK\u2019. The first thing I thought was: we can get heavy [again].\u201d<\/p>\n
But a \u201cscuff\u201d led to Clemente quitting while on the road, leaving Testament without a drummer at a sold-out final show on Skolnick\u2019s farewell tour. \u201cWe were inviting people from the crowd,\u201d says Peterson. \u201cChuck was like: does anybody know this song? People are jumping up and giving it a go. It was a weird night, man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chuck Billy performing in 2015. Photograph: Mark Horton\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Testament continued in one form or another, recruiting other acclaimed and storied musicians such as Slayer\u2019s Dave Lombardo; they down-tuned their instruments and got even heavier, with Billy perfecting his death-metal growl on 1999\u2019s The Gathering. But in 2001, Billy was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, with a large tumour lodged in his chest.<\/p>\n
While undergoing treatment, Billy \u2013 who was raised Catholic but whose father was Native American Pomo \u2013 reconnected with his Indigenous roots. Along with chemotherapy, he contacted Native healers and medicine men with whom he shared mysterious spiritual experiences involving wolf dens, chanting, eagle feathers and astral travel, and who he credits with helping him to fully recover.<\/p>\n
A 2005 tour with the classic lineup reunited the band, where one gig \u201cturned into five, five turned into 10,\u201d says Billy. But they played only occasionally and remained \u201coff in these other worlds,\u201d adds Skolnick, who was then a full-time session player. Billy worked in transport \u2013 giving safety lectures, presumably not about smashing bottles over one\u2019s head \u2013 while Peterson focused on his symphonic black metal band, Dragonlord, until a major 2008 tour offer with Mot\u00f6rhead, Heaven & Hell and Judas Priest was offered on the condition they record a new album.<\/p>\n
No sign of slowing down \u2026 Testament in 2025. Photograph: Fred Kowalo<\/p>\n
So they did \u2013 and never stopped. A couple of decades later, Testament show no signs of slowing down, save for the occasional ballad; with new drummer Chris Dovas in tow, their latest album, Para Bellum introduces elements like icy, black metal-style tremolo riffing, with themes covering the CIA agent-mangling Havana syndrome and, naturally, AI.<\/p>\n
\u201cDestruction\u2019s coming by the terabyte,\u201d growls Billy on single, Infanticide AI, \u201cthe future\u2019s destined to replace the soul\u201d \u2013 though Skolnick believes metal music is safe from these techno-dystopian torments. \u201cThere\u2019s no way it\u2019s going to sound like guys getting in a room hashing out a tune and radiating as humans,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
And through all their winding sonic travels, lineup changes, trials and tribulations, the sounds of each of the band\u2019s eras radiate something distinctly human. \u201cThey\u2019re all just different modes of us, you know?\u201d says Peterson.<\/p>\n
Para Bellum is out now on Nuclear Blast Records<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Bay Area of mid-1980s California, a heavy metal scene was forming that was angrier, louder and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-229442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}