Testament

About

Also known as: Legacy, Testa, テスタメント

Part of the so called Big Six of Bay Area thrash metal, Testament have been one of the genre's most durable forces since their early days playing alongside Exodus, Slayer and Anthrax on the Bay Area circuit. Formed in 1983 under the name Legacy, they sharpened their sound and locked in a lineup around vocalist Chuck Billy and guitarist Eric Peterson before releasing their debut The Legacy in 1987, a record that got their video for "Over the Wall" into heavy rotation on MTV's Headbangers Ball and earned them comparisons to Metallica. Their first three albums cemented their place at the top of the thrash pile, and Practice What You Preach broke them into the Billboard 200 Top 100. Testament have racked up over 14 million album sales worldwide and kept the momentum going well into the 21st century. After surviving serious lineup upheaval and Chuck Billy's cancer diagnosis around 2001, the band came back stronger, with albums like The Formation of Damnation, Dark Roots of Earth, Brotherhood of the Snake and Titans of Creation all cracking the Billboard Top 100. Their latest studio album, Para Bellum, arrived in October 2025.