Review by Daniel for Testament - The Legacy (1987)

My first encounter with Californian thrash metallers Testament was way back in 1989 when I picked up their “Practice What You Preach” album shortly after release. I’d only recently been converted to thrash metal the previous year through The Big Four & had heard that Testament sounded a lot like Metallica & had a brilliant lead guitarist so I decided to throw caution to the wind by purchasing the CD blind. That risk certainly paid off as I found that not only were the reports I’d heard accurate but that Testament were a genuine force to be reckoned with in their own right & this may well have been the moment that saw my interest in extreme metal leaving my more traditional metal interests in the dust as I’d finally seen that there was more to thrash than just the Big Four. All of a sudden there was a whole new world available to me that quickly escalated to death & black metal in just a matter of months & saw me leaving Testament behind in favour of more extreme bands like Morbid Angel, Bathory & Pestilence. My fellow Metal Academic administrator & younger brother Ben perhaps took even more strongly to the Bay Area thrash of “Practice What You Preach” & subsequently purchased both of Testament’s earlier albums in 1988’s “The New Order” & their highly celebrated 1987 debut “The Legacy”, both of which I jumped all over.

Testament’s debut (which took the band’s previous moniker for its title) stands out from its older brethren in that it’s a little rawer & thrashier & it seems to be held on somewhat of a pedestal as a result. Is it warranted? Well… yes & no. The production is the first of my concerns as the rhythm guitar sound isn’t what I would hope. It’s weaker & muddier than the premier thrash releases of the time &, while this is nothing terribly unusual for a mid-80’s thrash debut, it does nullify one of the albums major strengths to an extent. That’s right! You’ve guessed it! The rhythm guitar performance is exceptional & features a higher level of complexity & precision that 90% of Testament’s peers. James Hetfield & Dave Mustaine would have been proud of what their disciples had accomplished here (well James would have been anyway) as their influence is obvious in the high speed staccato rhythms & it’s a real shame that the production didn’t emphasize these like it did for a band like Exodus on their respective debut. On top of the underlying aggression though, we find a layer of melody that keeps Testament sounding a touch more accessible than bands like Slayer or Exodus. There’s a clear pedigree in traditional heavy metal in the guitar harmonies with Iron Maiden obviously having made an early impact on the band. Joe Satriani student Alex Skolnick’s guitar solos certainly live up to the hype as they walk the listener through an expansive array of melodic sub-themes that often hint at the neoclassical techniques of legendary Swedish guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen. Does it all work? Well… to be honest I think that Skolnick sometimes pushes his focus on melody a little too far & it results in a few cheesier moments that tend to detract from the aggressive thrash atmosphere. I don’t recall Testament’s follow-up album “The New Order” suffering from similar issues so perhaps Alex learnt from his first-up effort.

Front man Chuck Billy has become somewhat of an enigma within thrash circles. He’s a huge unit of a man with a massively powerful voice that commands the listener’s attention but I have to admit that I’ve never rated him quite as highly as some. His performance on “The Legacy” certainly has its moments but I think he was perhaps a touch ambitious in his attempts at creating some catchy singalong choruses as I’m not sure his skill sets were developed enough to pull them off just yet. This is one of the things that prevents me from reaching for the higher scores actually as many of these tracks build up to the chorus hooks beautifully but when you finally get there you sometimes find that they don’t quite deliver as much as you’d hoped. For this reason I find that I really enjoy all of the tracks on the impressively consistent tracklisting but I rarely see my sweet spot being pushed on for long enough to consider reaching for my “classic” stamp. Final track “Apocalyptic City” is the exception to the rule as it manages to steer clear of the previously mentioned attempts at catchy hooks & delivers an emphatic statement to close out the album. In fact, it could be argued that the best two tracks on offer are actually the last two & that leaves me with the feeling that Testament may have been better served by an alternative arrangement of the tracklisting. Regardless, there are no weak tracks here. The melodic Maiden-ish verses of “Burnt Offerings” are probably the low point but even then I find it to be reasonably enjoyable.

“The Legacy” offers a high quality & distinctly Californian brand of thrash metal that competes well with the finer debuts of the genre. In fact, while it may not challenge Exodus’ “Bonded By Blood” for the crown, I’d go so far as to say that I prefer “The Legacy” over some of the more high profile debuts like “Kill ‘Em All” & “Killing Is My Business… & Business Is Good!”. The professionalism & maturity of this record is almost unheard of in thrash circles & it was very clear that Testament were on a path to the top of their chosen craft. 1988’s “The New Order” has always been my preferred Testament record but “The Legacy” gives it a good run for its money & should be respected as a statement of intent from a talented group of musicians who were really going places.