Testament are thrash royalty. The Bay Area gods are still practicing what they preach after 37 years and thirteen full-length albums, the latest of which is 2020’s powerful Titans of Creation. Currently, the “thrashsters” are out supporting the reissue and remaster of their 1987 debut, The Legacy and 1988’s The New Order with fellow thrash and death statesmen Kreator and Possessed on the Klash of the Titans tour (dates below).
Decibel interviewed Testament frontman Chuck Billy to learn the motivating factors behind vinyl-only (for now) remasters of The Legacy and 1988’s The New Order, why he thinks they’re the ultimate form of records he’s appreciated but thought were sonically “in need of a facelift,” impending reissues and remasters of 1989’s Practice What You Preach and 1990’s Souls of Black, as well as progress on Testament’s new studio album, slated for 2025 via Nuclear Blast.
Read on as Billy, as one of metal’s best frontmen, gets excited about hearing old music like it’s new again. We’re also chuffed! The remasters of The Legacy and The New Order sound, look, and read (liners!) killer.
The Legacy and The New Order have been remastered by Justin Shturtz at Sterling Sound. Tell me about the journey, and how did ownership of those albums work since they were originally released by Megaforce Records in 1987 and 1988, respectively.
Chuck Billy: Every band, after 35 years, has the opportunity to retain the rights back to their music. When that opportunity came, it was the same for us. Of course, Atlantic approached us to continue, sign a new contract, give them the rights again for life. We decided that we didn’t want to do that because as far as Atlantic and I/we were concerned, they did a terrible job preserving Testament because they never did a 10-year anniversary, a 20-year anniversary, or a 30-year anniversary, any of that stuff for us. We were very happy at Nuclear Blast so we decided let’s give it to Nuclear Blast. They’re going to do the right thing. They’re the place to be. Eventually, once we get all six records back from Atlantic, they’re all going to live at Nuclear Blast. In the mid-‘90s [after Ritual], we didn’t have a label, so Jonny Z [Jon Zazula] said, “Why don’t you start your own label?” We had no idea how to do that, but he did obviously. He guided us through all that and we started Burnt Offerings. Every record we’ve done since then, we’ve licensed it out to whichever label we wanted to deal with. Thankfully, we did that, ‘cause a lot of those labels who we licensed to have since gone bankrupt, and our music would’ve been lost forever. We eventually got our music back, so it had a chance to live on. Jonny Z was crucial to us starting our own label and being where we are today with it.
The first Burnt Offerings release was Live at the Fillmore, right?
Chuck Billy: That’s right, Live at the Fillmore. That was our first record, a live recording.
Now that you had a chance to revisit the… er, legacy of Testament, how did you go about choosing the right person—in this case Justin—for the job?
Chuck Billy: Back in the day, we used Tom Coyne, who’s no longer with us, at Sterling. A lot of the connections to Justin were handled by Tommy [Jones] at Nuclear Blast. We thought no matter who we used it’d be night and day, but after listening to what Justin had done with the A-B, it was amazing. It was cool to hear those records again.
Were you thinking of remixing The Legacy and The New Order, too? Remixing is often the hardest part of the re-release process, as I understand it due to source materials not being readily available.
Chuck Billy: Yes, true. Well, originally we wanted to. Our thought was to remix those records and then remaster them, but we could not find the master recordings, the 2-inch tapes. Atlantic didn’t have them in the vault. Jonny Z [Jon Zazula] didn’t have them. He swore to me that he told me he was going to give them to me. Then, he said he thought he threw them away. And I’m like, “Jonny, you couldn’t have done that.” And so we couldn’t get the 2-inch master recordings to remix. What Jonny did was he sent me something, whatever he had at his house, a box of tapes, some 2-inch tapes and some half-inch masters. Well, I found The Legacy and The New Order on half-inch reels that weren’t mastered yet. They were just the raw mixes–woah, right! OK, let’s take those, give them to Justin, and let’s remaster them since we can’t remix them. I’m so glad we did because those first couple of records have haunted me my whole life. When I hear them on the radio or see them on a video, it’s hard for me to hear them as they were intended to be. When we made The Legacy and The New Order, those were the days when we were making vinyl records. We weren’t necessarily making and mixing for CDs or digital. So,we would press a record, listen to it, tweak this or that, and do it again. When it transferred to CDs eventually, it just got squashed to my ears. Every time I’d hear those albums on Sirius or something, it just sounds so small, tight and compressed. They didn’t breathe. When we got to master them in Nashville [with Justin], we got to A-B them. Oh my god! What a difference! The volume, the power, the albums just came alive. We were so excited, almost as if we were hearing these albums for the first time again. In a way, we really were.
The cover art for both releases have been modified too.
Chuck Billy: Not modified, but The New Order remaster has the original artwork, with the red eyes. Back then, we thought, “No, we don’t like the red eyes version, let’s use the other one.” [Laughs] So, the reissue of The New Order has the original art. The Legacy is without the window. Just the skull and logo. It’s more direct, which I like.
I gather your first instinct was to release the remasters on vinyl first. Old-school-style.
Chuck Billy: Yes, exactly. Since Nuclear Blast is gonna do the right thing with these, we wanted to do something special. Vinyl with a 20-page booklet. We got asked if we could dig in our garages and basements for artifacts. Luckily, I had my attorney back then, who was our manager, he retired and he sent me 20 boxes of files that he had had over the lifetime of the band. What I found in there were letters before we were signed, when we were actually Legacy, going to Jonny Z and Metal Blade. There was a letter with our demo–like “Mr. Jonny Z. Here’s a band called Legacy from San Francisco. Let us know if you have any interest.” We had tour reports from our first tour, just tons of stuff I had never seen. We put all that in the booklet, old letters, photos, and stuff like that. The remasters have sold through, which is great, and they’ve been reprinted again. Eventually they’ll be on CD, too.
I’m a CD guy. I can’t wait to compare my originals to the remasters.
Chuck Billy: Definitely A-B them. You’ll go, “Oh, my god!” [Laughs] Back then, we put a lot of effects on the vocals, we had some backward snares, some trick things. Once we remastered them, all that stuff kind of disappeared. It just became raw and heavy.
Let’s move on from the reissues and on to the band. Whenever I see photos of the band you guys are smiling.
Chuck Billy: We’re feeling blessed. The band gets along so well. You have to spend a lot of time and live in a submarine with the same guys. That’s hard enough in itself, not bickering and getting on each other’s nerves. We really don’t have that now. I think we’ve all learned (just growing with age) what buttons not to push or how to deal with things. Putting the right people in there is important. Steve [DiGiorgio] and Chris [Dovas] are great to have in Testament. Steve is a character. He keeps the band upbeat and we have a good time. He’s always joking. I always say we’ve never had an argument or somebody blowing up or somebody getting mad. We’ve never had that in this lineup. can’t even remember that ever happening over the last 20-something years. From The Gathering and me beating cancer, moving forward, it was more like a blessing. I honestly didn’t think I was going to play music after I was ill because I’d look in the mirror and not see the same guy. I just wanted to survive and spend the most time with my family and friends. Then all of a sudden, we have a full-blown reunion with the original guys. It is so weird, but so cool. I wanted to enjoy it all. We all want to enjoy it all, because it’s like we’re being blessed right now to have this opportunity that maybe we’re going to go finish something that we started together and finish it together. That was kind of like the feeling and thought. After getting with them and touring and before we made The Formation of Damnation in 2008, we were enjoying our company, having a good time, and never talked about the future. We just let it happen. That’s how The Formation of Damnation came to be. We just said, “Alright, let’s do it!” That changed the dynamic. We weren’t concerned about what the media or the fans or anybody thought. We were really writing for ourselves and being confident in what we’ve done, but still stayed true to Testament. Since then, our records have been evolving, and I think they get better and better. There’s something about the dynamic that just has made it from that point a new band to me.
Let’s talk about Chris. He’s 26. It must be wild for both parties.
Chuck Billy: Chris was 24 when he joined the band. He gives a new energy to Testament. He has really good input for a young guy, loves his history. I’d say he’s an old soul. But he’s super-talented, having gone to the Berklee College of Music. So, I’m a believer in things happening for a reason. The timing of Chris coming to the band couldn’t have been better. Here’s another why: He listens to newer, modern bands that are in his lifetime, the stuff he listened to in high school. So, he’s influenced by that and brings a little bit of that, plays it for Eric [Peterson]. And Eric doesn’t go, “OK, let me copy that.” But he goes, “Wow, that’s cool. Let me hear that again.” He’s getting influenced, which I think is great. This new record we’re writing is really influential. Chris has a big part of being an influence on that. He’s created some songs that, to me, sound really fresh, really modern, really current. We don’t sound like a 38-year-old band. We’re writing some songs, and I’m singing some challenging stuff–some screaming, some death metal, and some melodic vocals, just a little bit of everything in this record. With new fans, even new younger fans that might not have known us or know our history might hear us and go, “Wow, who’s that?! Testament?” Well, isn’t that that band that’s been around a while, sure doesn’t sound like it. You know, I would love to be in a room to see an expression on somebody who got to listen to us like that for the first time. Like when they first heard Low. [Laughs]
Testament has longevity. You’ve been around the block. That perspective is, in a way, getting rarer and rarer.
Chuck Billy: It is, but that’s life. I still listen to Thin Lizzy, UFO—basically the bands I listened to in high school. Those were the good old days. The kids these days are listening to their generation of bands. That’s what they’re growing up with. That’s what they like. It’s a whole different time for people. The question is: how does Testament reach those potential fans? With Chris coming in, creating something different [with Eric], there’s a chance we might be able to reach them. During our most recent festival run, I looked out into the crowd and I saw our fans, many of whom were grayed out [Laughs], but there’s a lot of kids. They’re into us, and I find that pretty cool. They might be seeing us for the first time and asking themselves, “Who is Testament?!” Then—I hope—they go into our history and start listening to our music.
Let’s talk about the Klash of the Titans tour. Cool bill with Kreator, who are your peers, and Possessed, who are local boys and death metal legends. Obviously, you’re playing with the 1990 tour name, Clash of the Titans.
Chuck Billy: It’s a very cool tour. I remember when I wanted to take Possessed out. They were the perfect choice for me. Since Jeff [Becerra] is in a wheelchair, he can’t get out and tour. They don’t play a lot, and they have a really important history. I thought fans would enjoy that. With Kreator, we toured with them in South America last year, and we got along great. The crews got along great. That got us talking about doing more. This tour makes sense.
You’re bridging the Bay Area and the Ruhrgebiet thrash scenes with this tour.
Chuck Billy: The fans are gonna get a lot of thrash—that’s all I’m gonna say. [Laughs] None of us are getting any younger, though. My mind still tells me I’m that young, but my body disagrees. When I hear the intro music, I’m a different person. The songs drive me. Actually, I think I’m singing these songs better than I ever have. Even Eric said so. I’m singing, screaming, and doing the death metal voice. I’m giving it my all.
I guess when you were 25 you probably didn’t entertain the idea of doing the same songs 30 years later.
Chuck Billy: Are you kidding me?! [Laughs] Not at all.
OK, so I know there’s another Testament album in the works. The follow-up to Titans of Creation is imminent.
Chuck Billy: We’re working on it. We’re inspired by what the new bands are doing. It’s going to be a different Testament record. I would say stepping into what’s current and what’s fresh for us, but still staying true to Testament. It’s eight songs. The drums are finished. DiGiorgio’s finished his bass parts. Eric’s finishing up the last few rhythm tracks. I guess Alex will finish up his leads in November. Pretty sure Andy Sneap will mix. We’re taking our time to make sure it’s right.
What’s next for Testament? Guess you’re gonna tease more reissues, right?
Chuck Billy: Since you asked, yes. [Laughs] We just got Practice What You Preach back from Justin. They’re approved and ready to go. Eric found the original artwork for Practice What You Preach, so like The New Order, it’ll be different—I can’t wait! We’re planning on re-releasing Practice during Christmas. Then, Souls of Black will be next year. We have the 2-inch tapes for Souls of Black, so we’re probably going to remix that one.
** Testament’s remasters of “thrashics” The Legacy and The New Order are out now on Nuclear Blast Records. Grab them HERE and HERE or be cursed by the legions of death!
** Testament are on tour now with Kreator and Possessed. Klash of the Titans dates:
09/12 Reno, NV @ Grand Sierra Resort and Casino
09/13 Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues | Las Vegas
09/14 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
09/16 Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
09/17 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
09/18 Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
09/20 Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall
09/21 Enoch, AB @ River Cree Resort and Casino
09/22 Saskatoon, SK @ Coors Event Centre
09/24 Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre
09/26 Maplewood, MN @ Myth Live
09/27 Chicago, IL @ Radius Chicago
09/28 Huber Heights, OH @ Rose Music Center at The Heights
09/29 Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
10/01 Cleveland, OH @ The Agora Theatre & Ballroom
10/03 Toronto, ON @ History
10/04 Montreal, QC @ MTELUS
10/05 New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
10/06 Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues | Boston
10/08 Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore | Silver Spring
10/10 Montclair, NJ @ The Wellmont Theater
10/11 Bethlehem, PA @ Wind Creek Event Center
10/12 Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz | Raleigh
10/13 Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
10/15 Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
10/16 St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
10/18 Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
10/19 San Antonio, TX @ The Aztec Theatre
10/20 Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum
10/22 Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
10/23 Albuquerque, NM @ Albuquerque Convention Center
10/24 Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
10/26 Los Angeles, CA @ The Hollywood Palladium
10/27 San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
