Testament: Sanctified By The Crimson
You’d be hard pressed to find a band with a back catalogue as expansive and strong as thrash legends TESTAMENT. With a collection of classic albums that are near-perfect examples of the quintessential Bay Area thrash scene, a handful of experimental albums that saw the band shirk away from mainstream pandering in favour of an even darker, more brutal sound, and a series of 21st century releases that stand head and shoulders above most of their contemporaries’ output in recent years, TESTAMENT are one of the hottest commodities in thrash. And with their newest offering, this year’s Titans of Creation, the quintet are hellbent on maintaining the high calibre of their discography.
The release of the record comes off the back of one of the most bittersweet thrash tours in recent history. With TESTAMENT at the head, the Bay Area European excursion was completed by EXODUS and DEATH ANGEL, for what should have been the most momentous tour of the year. Unfortunately, the run was mired with issues. Not even a full week into the Bay Strikes Back tour, the ferry TESTAMENT, EXODUS and DEATH ANGEL were taking across the Gulf of Bothnia was caught in Storm Ciara, which ravaged Europe at the start of March. The touring truck went overboard, along with the majority of their gear. Then, a week later, their show in Milan was cancelled amid COVID-19 concerns, and upon arriving home at the end of March, around half of the touring party tested positive for COVID-19, including TESTAMENT vocalist Chuck Billy, EXODUS’ Gary Holt and DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll – who ended up in intensive care, and was fighting for his life.
In the final stretch of the tour, however, founding TESTAMENT guitarist and lead songwriter Eric Peterson is nothing but positive and optimistic. “The tour has been great, most of it has been sold out which is pretty cool as it’s been a long time since we all played together. At one point, TESTAMENT, EXODUS and DEATH ANGEL were all playing the same clubs, so to be touring the world together is mind-boggling,” Peterson comments, before addressing the issues of the tour with a laugh. “That which does not kill you makes you stronger. These issues have just been hiccups, little fun rides!”
But focusing on something far more positive, Titans of Creation proves to be the strongest TESTAMENT album in at least a decade. 2008’s The Formation of Damnation was a modern-day masterpiece, and while 2012’s Dark Roots of Earth and 2016’s Brotherhood of the Snake both stand as some of the stronger thrash albums in recent years, they never quite reached the same level of brilliance displayed on The Formation of Damnation. But with Titans of Creation, the Bay Area thrashers come closer than ever to matching their best work – in part due to the evolution of TESTAMENT’s core sound.
“We definitely want to stay within the blueprint of the ideology of thrash, and there’s a formula that works. But the problem is, after 35 years, it’s easy to start rehashing stuff; by adding new elements in it influences and enhances the quality that’s already there,” Peterson says, on TESTAMENT’s continued evolution.
Most notably for the band’s aural expansion is the growing influence of black and death metal within their sonic arsenal. TESTAMENT are still very much a thrash band, but, as Peterson says, by bringing in these different elements it gives the band a whole new level of depth. And on Titans of Creation, the black metal elements are felt more than ever, thanks to Peterson’s influence.
“Right around The Gathering, I was trying to not let black metal [influence TESTAMENT’s songwriting]. I was listening to a lot of stuff like DISSECTION, EMPEROR, discovering DIMMU BORGIR and I knew who MAYHEM was. I pretty much had a whole black metal record in my head, but it was better for me to get that off my shoulders and release it as something else. I don’t know what would have happened if I had put those ideas into TESTAMENT.” Peterson comments on his early love of black metal, and the launching of his side-project DRAGONLORD. “But on Titans of Creation, because I’m fresh off the boat from fjord [having released DRAGONLORD’s third album, Dominion, in 2018] some of the ideas were definitely there, and my influences have all been meshed together at this point so if anything the black metal elements just gives the new material a bit of an edge, it keeps it interesting.”
The 2010s saw TESTAMENT reassert themselves as one of the biggest, baddest names in thrash, once again taking their place at the top of the genre. Continuing to draw on the death metal experimentation of the 90s, continually incorporating jazz and neo-classic elements thanks to Alex Skolnick’s influence, and most recently, bringing blackened flourishes into play, the Bay Area quintet have carved out one of the punchiest styles in thrash – and are showing no sign of stopping or slowing. When asked about how he sees TESTAMENT continuing to grow and evolve, Peterson wrly answers, “we’re just gonna keep getting heavier.” If that’s the case, it looks like the thrash scene is in for a continued run of TESTAMENT dominance, as they showcase just how strong their brand of Bay Area brutality can be.
Titans of Creation is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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