Testament (a.k.a. "Legacy") is a North American thrash metal music group from California. Being one of the most influential American thrash metal bands, they were perhaps the most popular band of that scene to not break into the mainstream and see the success that the Big Four of Thrash did.
Testament was formed in the San Francisco area in 1983 by drummer Louie Clemente, guitarist Eric Peterson and his friend, Derrick Ramirez, also a guitarist, originally using the name Legacy. The band soon recruited bassist Greg Christian and vocalist Steve Souza. Ramirez was subsequently replaced by young guitar prodigy Alex Skolnick, who had studied under the legendary bay-area guitarist Joe Satriani. Steve Souza subsequently left the band, and suggested that Chuck Billy should replace him on lead vocals. While recording their first album, the band was forced to change their name to Testament because another band held a copyright to the name "The Legacy".
Testament's first album, The Legacy, was released in 1987 on Megaforce Records. It is a concise and technical album of vintage thrash metal, still refered to as a classic by many fans of the genre. Testament received instant fame within thrash circles and were often compared with fellow bay-area thrash pioneers Metallica. The band quickly managed to increase their exposure by heading out on a successful tour of America and Europe with Anthrax, who were then touring in support of their Among The Living album. On this tour the Live at Eindhoven EP was recorded.
The next album, The New Order, was released in 1988, and found the band continuing in a similar vein. After another successful world tour the band headed back into the studio to record Practice What You Preach. Released in 1989, Practice was an extremely focused effort that minimized the occult and gothic themes found on their first two albums, instead focussing on real-life issues such as politics and corruption. The album was the band's most popular to date and even MTV took notice, giving the title track extensive airplay on Headbanger's Ball.