The story
Thrash Metal (Heavy Metal) band from San Francisco, California (USA).
Initially founded as in 1983 by Eric Peterson (guitar) his cousin Derrick Ramírez (guitar and vocals) and Mike Ronchette (drums). Same year Steve "Zetro" Souza joined as vocalist, Gregg Christian as bassist and Louie Clemente replaced Mike on drums. In 1984 Alex Skolnick replaced Derrick on the guitar and they began rehearsing for their first demo.
In 1985 they recorded their first demo called "First Strike Is Deadly" and in 1986 they changed their name into Testament after parting ways with Zetro (who left to join fellow Bay-area thrashers Exodus) and hooking up with new vocalist Chuck Billy. After the successful debut album "The Legacy" they played the Dynamo festival in Holland and recorded a live EP. Their second album made Testament one of the world's biggest metal bands and a tour was arranged with Megadeth, Voivod, Anthrax, Judas Priest and others. Their third album "Practice What You Preach" sold more than 400,000 copies.
From Discogs, written by its community.
