Line #83 Music/Testament


1	[[quoteright:400:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/logo_testament.gif]]
2	[[caption-width-right:400:Practicing what they've preached since 1983.]]
3
4	Testament is a ThrashMetal band from Berkeley, California. Formed under the name Legacy in 1983, they took on their current name in 1986. They are generally held as one of the leading bands of the thrash scene, although they've never achieved the same mainstream recognition as [[Music/{{Metallica}} the]] [[Music/{{Slayer}} famous]] [[Music/{{Anthrax}} Big]] [[Music/{{Megadeth}} Four]].
5
6	!'''Discography:'''
7	* ''The Legacy'' (1987)
8	* ''The New Order'' (1988)
9	* ''Practice What You Preach'' (1989)
10	* ''Souls of Black'' (1990)
11	* ''The Ritual'' (1992)
12	* ''Low'' (1994)
13	* ''Demonic'' (1997)
14	* ''The Gathering'' (1999)
15	* ''[[TheRemake First Strike Still Deadly]]'' (2001)
16	* ''The Formation of Damnation'' (2008)
17	* ''Dark Roots of Earth'' (2012)
18	* ''Brotherhood of the Snake'' (2016)
19	* ''Titans of Creation'' (2020)
20
21
22	!!'''Members:'''
23	!!!Current:
24	* Eric Peterson - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1983-present)
25	* Chuck Billy - lead vocals (1986-present)
26	* Alex Skolnick - lead guitar, backing vocals (1985-1993, 2001, 2005-present)
27	* Steve [=DiGiorgio=] - bass, backing vocals (1998-2004, 2014-present)
28	* Chris Dovas - drums (2023-present)
29	!!!Former:[[note]]Only ex members who have recorded at least one album while in the band, or had songwriting credits, are listed here.[[/note]]
30	* Derrick Ramirez - lead vocals, guitars (1983), bass (1997)
31	* [[Music/ExodusBand Steve "Zetro" Souza]] - lead vocals (1983-1986)[[note]]Also sang on the last two tracks of ''First Strike Still Deadly'', and has co-written songs on ''The Formation of Damnation'' and ''Dark Roots of Earth''.[[/note]]
32	* Louie Clemente - drums (1983-1993, 2005)
33	* Greg Christian - bass (1983-1996; 2004-2014)
34	* Glen Alvelais - guitars (1993, 1997-1998)
35	* [[Music/{{Slayer}} Paul Bostaph]] - drums (1993, 2007-2011)
36	* [[Music/{{Death}} James]] [[Music/{{Obituary}} Murphy]] - guitars (1994-1996, 1998-2000)
37	* [[Music/{{ExodusBand}} John]] [[Music/{{The Cult}} Tempesta]] - drums (1994, 2005-2006)[[note]]Also played drums on ''First Strike Still Deadly''.[[/note]]
38	* [[Music/DarkAngel Gene Hoglan]] - drums (1997, 2011-2022)
39	* [[Music/{{Slayer}} Dave Lombardo]] - drums (1998-1999, 2022-2023)
40
41	!!Into the tropes:
42	* AntiLoveSong: A particularly fierce example in "Leave Me Forever." A song told from the point of view of a spouse who was betrayed by his lover and is bitterly angry with her.
43	* ApocalypseWow: "3 Days in Darkness."
44	* AuthorTract: Chuck has admitted that the lyrics for "Stronghold" were basically him expressing his disgust over the nature of the then-upcoming 2016 Presidential Election.
45	* BadassNative: "Native Blood," Chuck Billy himself is one of the most prominent Native American figures in music.
46	* BigFun / FatBastard: Chuck, especially in his latter years. Some say he is a thicker version of Music/{{Slayer}}'s Tom Araya.
47	* CassandraTruth: "The Preacher" is about someone who frequently tells these.
48	* ControlFreak: Chuck and Eric were this according to Greg Christian, which led to him often feeling like a fifth wheel within the band. To this day, he regrets working with them, feeling his talents as a bassist were seriously underappreciated (both personally and financially).
49	* CoverVersion:
50	** Music/{{Aerosmith}}’s "Nobody's Fault" on ''The New Order''.
51	** Music/{{Queen}}'s "Dragon Attack," Music/{{Scorpions\|Band}}'s "Animal Magnetism," and Music/{{Iron Maiden}}'s "Powerslave" on ''Dark Roots of Earth''.
52	* DarkerAndEdgier: Their 90's period after ''The Ritual'' achieved levels of heaviness that regularly exceeded that of their albums from before then while Chuck began to increasingly employ harsh vocals. Although ''The Formation of Damnation'' onwards veers closer to straight thrash again, their modern albums generally remain this to their pre-''Low'' output due to keeping some elements from their 90's work.
53	* DrivenToSuicide: "Falling Fast" from ''Souls of Black''.
54	* DrugsAreGood: "Canna-Business", about how America benefits immensely from legalized...cannabis.
55	* EpicRocking:
56	** The title track of ''The Ritual'' is 7:34.
57	** From ''Dark Roots of Earth'', we get "Cold Embrace" (7:45), "Throne of Thorns" (7:04, 7:41 for the extended edit), and "Powerslave" (6:51).
58	* EvilOverlooker: The cover of ''The New Order''.
59	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: "The Ballad." Guess the style of the song.
60	* GenreShift: They went from playing very melodic thrash to taking on a heavier sound influenced by GrooveMetal and DeathMetal as the 90s progressed. They have mostly gone back to straight thrash since ''The Formation of Damnation'', but kept many elements of their 90s albums, resulting in a harder, more Music/{{Slayer}}-ish thrash sound than their heavily Music/{{Metallica}}-esque 80s albums.
61	* GreenAesop: "Greenhouse Effect" on ''Practice What You Preach''.
62	* GrooveMetal: Most of ''Low''. ''Demonic'' was also inspired by this genre.
63	* HarshVocals: Chuck Billy, although not to the usual extent. While he is more than capable of the traditional death metal growl, he usually uses a very distinctive roar.
64	* HeavyMeta: Averted by "Into the Pit." It is hard to say what it ''is'' about, but the lyrics certainly have nothing to do with moshing.
65	** Subverted during the band's live performances, as it is usually dedicated to the people participating in the mosh pit.
66	* HesBack: ''The Formation of Damnation'' served as this for Chuck and Alex - Chuck had recovered from cancer, and Alex had rejoined the band. True to this trope, [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic the album kicks ass.]]
67	* IconicItem: Chuck's light-up, jeweled mic stand.
68	* LeadDrummer: Dave Lombardo arguably (not only due to his reputation with Music/{{Slayer}}, but his performance on ''The Gathering'' being incredibly highly lauded), and more definitely Gene Hoglan seeing the massive number of bands he has been in.
69	* LighterAndSofter: ''The Ritual'' is the most accessible album the band released, though the few albums before had a more polished and melodic sound than the first ones and as a whole their earliest "era" is also their lightest. ''The Formation of Damnation'', while definitely a heavy album, is this to ''The Gathering''.
70	* MetalBandMascot: The nameless demon... thing with an OverlyLongTongue often seen in an inverted pentagram found on ''The Legacy'', the corner of ''Low'' and ''First Strike Still Deadly'', among other places, probably counts.
71	* MetalScream: One of Chuck's trademarks, especially on their earliest albums on songs like "Burnt Offerings" and "The Preacher."
72	** He does a particularly devastating one at the beginning of "Troubled Dreams" from ''The Ritual'' - even ending it with a sneak preview of "the growl"[[note]]which he would begin to more regularly use on ''Low'' and then exaggerated on ''Demonic'' and ''The Gathering''[[/note]].
73	* NewSoundAlbum: Though their sound never veers far from ThrashMetal, it has been tweaked a lot over the years.
74	** Some songs on ''The New Order'' have soft atmospheric intros on certain tracks, also it features the first instrumental tracks in the band's discography. Its production is also gritty, muffled, and fuzzy, giving it a slightly rawer sound.
75	** ''Practice What You Preach'' is noticeably more melodic and has a cleaner production.
76	** ''Souls of Black'' seems to have the tempo dialed down and shows a more traditional heavy metal sound that would be further explored in ''The Ritual''.
77	** ''The Ritual'', being "[[Music/{{Metallica}} The Black Album]]" of the band, deviated from the band's earlier thrash metal sound in favor of a more traditional heavy metal sound with hints of hard rock, and it has much better production than its predecessors. It also has a somewhat higher emphasis on EpicRocking than their earlier albums did.
78	** ''Low'' marks a 180 degree turn as it's much heavier due to its GrooveMetal influence, tuned-down guitars, and Chuck Billy using a lower register/roaring on some tracks. "Dog Faced Gods" of this album is the band's first flirtation with DeathMetal.
79	** ''Demonic'' further evolves the band into a heavier direction, with a much more prominent death metal tone heard throughout, while retaining the groove metal sound of ''Low''.
80	** ''The Gathering'' marks a return of the thrash sound the band previously had while mixing it with their heavier sound of the '90s.
81	** ''The Formation of Damnation'' abandons the death metal aspects of previous albums for the most part, with the title track being an exception in that regard.
82	** ''Dark Roots of Earth'' introduces blast beats and is generally faster. It also features the first ballad since "Trail of Tears" from ''Low'' and features their first examples of EpicRocking since ''The Ritual''.
83	** ''Brotherhood of the Snake'' is their fastest modern album yet, with even the band members making noted comparisons to ''The Gathering''.
84	* PowerBallad: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "The Ballad"]], "The Legacy," "The Ritual," "Return to Serenity," "Trail of Tears," and "Cold Embrace." "Leave Me Forever," to a lesser degree.
85	* ProtestSong: "Stronghold", among a few other examples.
86	* ReligionRantSong: They're very fond of the Type 3 variant. "Dangers Of The Faithless" and "So Many Lies", for example.
87	* TheRemake: ''First Strike Still Deadly'' is a re-recording of some of their most well-liked tracks from their first two albums.
88	* RenaissanceMan: Alex has also found the time to play with Music/TransSiberianOrchestra and create his own jazz fusion group.
89	* RevolvingDoorBand: They've already gone through nine drummers. Their longest-lasting lineup lasted not even eight years.
90	** Eric is the only consistent member, and him and Chuck are the only ones who have been present on all their albums. After ''The Ritual'' (the last album with their "classic" Peterson/Skolnick/Billy/Christian/Clemente lineup), they did not record consecutive albums with the same lineup until ''Brotherhood of the Snake'' and ''Titans of Creation''.
91	* SelfTitledAlbum: A variation - their first album, ''The Legacy'', is named for the original band name and in fact was recorded while still going under the name Legacy.
92	* TheStoner: Chuck is an open marijuana user.
93	* SurprisinglyGentleSong: Somewhat unusually for a ThrashMetal band, they have a number of these, or at least moments of it.
94	** ''The New Order'' has several spacey and acoustic passages in it sprinkled throughout the album.
95	** "The Ballad" from ''Practice What You Preach'' was their first definite example. "The Legacy" on ''Souls of Black'', "Return to Serenity" on ''The Ritual'' (which sticks out for being on a Surprisingly Gentle Album) and "Trail of Tears" on ''Low'' would follow suit. The ''Live at the Fillmore'' LiveAlbum even included acoustic rerecordings of the latter three with backing female vocals.
96	** Later made a comeback on ''Dark Roots of Earth'' with "Cold Embrace", although that song has moments of aggression.
97	* TitleTrack: Most of their albums have straight examples of these, exceptions of varying amounts being ''The Legacy'' (although a song called "The Legacy" would [[NonIndicativeName later appear on]] ''Souls of Black'', and "Burnt Offerings" has an AlbumTitleDrop with "making the legacy known"), ''Demonic'' (which opens up with a song called "Demonic Refusal", with the word "demonic" showing up in the song), ''The Gathering'' (where the album title is nowhere to be found) and ''Titans of Creation'' (same as ''The Gathering'').
98	* VocalEvolution: Chuck, to a degree. He went from punk-inspired half-singing half-shouting in the [=80s=] and early [=90s=] to a Phil Anselmo-esque growl in the mid-90s.
99	* [[IAmTheBand We Are The Band]]: Eric and Chuck are the only constant members and even then, Eric is the only founding member who never left.
100	* WritingAroundTrademarks: The band were set to release their debut under the name Legacy before learning there was already an act using the name - so they changed it to Testament but called the album ''The Legacy''.
101	* WordSaladLyrics: Most of ''The Gathering'' seems to consist of this. While there are a few songs with obvious themes ("3 Days of Darkness" is, for example, about The Rapture), most of the lyrics are utterly ridiculous.

Context Music / Testament