Testament is one of those classic thrash metal bands from around the same time as Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth. Testament is not considered one of the big four thrash bands, but I feel like they could replace Anthrax; which, in my opinion, is the weakest of the four. Testament has a sound that is like a cross between Metallica and Slayer, with a sharp cut guitar sound, somewhat complicated and fast riffs, rapid beating drums, and sweet solos.
To be honest, I don't really like this cover, it is kind of ugly. The colors yellow and purple are complementary, and don't really work together. The coolest part of this cover is the weird skull, although it is placed strangely, kind of hovering there. Also, what is that thing next to it? Is that some kind of animal tail or a smoking rope or something? I don't know why they decided to include that. Also, even though the skull is the coolest part of this cover, I feel like it would almost be better if they removed it and the tail thing, just leaving the book and fire in the background. This would be kind of simplistic, but at least it would make sense and actually look good. Despite this, I think Testament can kind of get a pass for this cover since this is their first album, and a lot of bands have bad covers for their first album, before they find a good artist.
Despite the mediocre cover, The Legacy is actually one of Testament's best albums. The name of this album actually came from an early name of the band. The original name of the band was Legacy, but was forced to change it before their first album when they discovered the name was already trademarked by a jazz band which was already using the name. Once they changed their name to Testament (which in my opinion is a much better name), they decided to name their first album The Legacy instead. This album has some of Testament's best songs, including "Over the Wall," "Burnt Offerings," "Raging Waters," and "C.O.T.L.O.D."
The First song on the album, "Over the Wall," may be Testament's overall best song. This is an awesome song about a prisoner trying to escape prison. After being sentenced to life in prison, the narrator decides the only way out is to escape. After waiting till nighttime, he successfully gets "over the wall" of the prison and to freedom. That is the literal interpretation of the lyrics, but I have an alternate one which is that there is no literal wall or prison, but instead a metaphorical one the narrator constructed in his mind, "I've been a prisoner trapped in by fear." The narrator fears his only way out of this mental prison is to restart his life elsewhere or otherwise risk destroying himself trying to break free, "Restart my life or self destruction to climb this wall." The narrator eventually breaks free of his mental prison, but it takes a lot of his energy and he almost looses it, "My sanity is all but gone my patience is growing weak I need to get a hold of myself I stare at the wall" The narrator is still haunted by his past, but he is determined to never fall back into place he was in before, "The search will not stop and hounds will not rest till I am back in my cell for if I am caught, I'll try it again over the wall I will go, I will go." To be honest this interpretation is a bit far fetched, but it's something I thought of. This song starts of with an awesome guitar riff which quickly speeds up into a fast Slayer esque thrash beat. The melody is has a head banging beat which is occasionally accented by the singer screaming "OVER THE WALL!" The guitar solo helps end the track with an almost power metal vibe.
My next favorite song on this album is "Burnt Offerings." This song starts slow, but eventually turns into a cool fast moving song about a group of people conducting a seance to attempt to predict the results of a war which is about to start. They see the world turned into a wasteland scattered with cannibals and armies raping, pillaging villages. At the end, they wonder if the predictions are really true and decide that they will just have to "wait to find out." If it is not obvious, this song is a warning about the possible consequences of war. What makes this song so good is an exotic sounding guitar riff which the singer sings along with throughout the song. The result is a cool song which has a kind of uneasy dread throughout it.
"Raging Waters" is a song about sailors who were unfortunate enough to sail into the Bermuda Triangle. As they sailed into the triangle, the weather turned for the worse and the sea water became boiling hot. A heavy fog rolled in, and bodies could be seen floating in the water. It is almost as if Satan is trying to reach out to kill them and wreck their boat. The story makes this song cool, and the awesome chorus makes it exciting to listen to: "'violence terror'/ raging waters/ dying has scare us nowhere to go/ darkness prevails no one to save us/ Every one man for himself."
"C.O.T.L.O.D." or Curse of the Legions of Death is an exiting, fast cutting song. The guitars and drums in this song are very reminiscent of Slayer, but with a Metallica style melody and shouted vocals. The whole song has a never ending hail of hard cutting guitars which makes it exciting. My favorite part of this song is towards the end when the singer screams "Curse of the Legions of Death!" This song tells about a wave of death and murder caused by the so called "legions of death," from the perspective of the legions themselves. The seem to have come from hell and are slaughtering anyone in their path, especially virgins for some reason, "all virgins must die this night."
The is a great 80s thrash album that is a great listen for anyone who is a fan of classic thrash, or really anyone else.
To be honest, I don't really like this cover, it is kind of ugly. The colors yellow and purple are complementary, and don't really work together. The coolest part of this cover is the weird skull, although it is placed strangely, kind of hovering there. Also, what is that thing next to it? Is that some kind of animal tail or a smoking rope or something? I don't know why they decided to include that. Also, even though the skull is the coolest part of this cover, I feel like it would almost be better if they removed it and the tail thing, just leaving the book and fire in the background. This would be kind of simplistic, but at least it would make sense and actually look good. Despite this, I think Testament can kind of get a pass for this cover since this is their first album, and a lot of bands have bad covers for their first album, before they find a good artist.
Despite the mediocre cover, The Legacy is actually one of Testament's best albums. The name of this album actually came from an early name of the band. The original name of the band was Legacy, but was forced to change it before their first album when they discovered the name was already trademarked by a jazz band which was already using the name. Once they changed their name to Testament (which in my opinion is a much better name), they decided to name their first album The Legacy instead. This album has some of Testament's best songs, including "Over the Wall," "Burnt Offerings," "Raging Waters," and "C.O.T.L.O.D."
The First song on the album, "Over the Wall," may be Testament's overall best song. This is an awesome song about a prisoner trying to escape prison. After being sentenced to life in prison, the narrator decides the only way out is to escape. After waiting till nighttime, he successfully gets "over the wall" of the prison and to freedom. That is the literal interpretation of the lyrics, but I have an alternate one which is that there is no literal wall or prison, but instead a metaphorical one the narrator constructed in his mind, "I've been a prisoner trapped in by fear." The narrator fears his only way out of this mental prison is to restart his life elsewhere or otherwise risk destroying himself trying to break free, "Restart my life or self destruction to climb this wall." The narrator eventually breaks free of his mental prison, but it takes a lot of his energy and he almost looses it, "My sanity is all but gone my patience is growing weak I need to get a hold of myself I stare at the wall" The narrator is still haunted by his past, but he is determined to never fall back into place he was in before, "The search will not stop and hounds will not rest till I am back in my cell for if I am caught, I'll try it again over the wall I will go, I will go." To be honest this interpretation is a bit far fetched, but it's something I thought of. This song starts of with an awesome guitar riff which quickly speeds up into a fast Slayer esque thrash beat. The melody is has a head banging beat which is occasionally accented by the singer screaming "OVER THE WALL!" The guitar solo helps end the track with an almost power metal vibe.
My next favorite song on this album is "Burnt Offerings." This song starts slow, but eventually turns into a cool fast moving song about a group of people conducting a seance to attempt to predict the results of a war which is about to start. They see the world turned into a wasteland scattered with cannibals and armies raping, pillaging villages. At the end, they wonder if the predictions are really true and decide that they will just have to "wait to find out." If it is not obvious, this song is a warning about the possible consequences of war. What makes this song so good is an exotic sounding guitar riff which the singer sings along with throughout the song. The result is a cool song which has a kind of uneasy dread throughout it.
"Raging Waters" is a song about sailors who were unfortunate enough to sail into the Bermuda Triangle. As they sailed into the triangle, the weather turned for the worse and the sea water became boiling hot. A heavy fog rolled in, and bodies could be seen floating in the water. It is almost as if Satan is trying to reach out to kill them and wreck their boat. The story makes this song cool, and the awesome chorus makes it exciting to listen to: "'violence terror'/ raging waters/ dying has scare us nowhere to go/ darkness prevails no one to save us/ Every one man for himself."
"C.O.T.L.O.D." or Curse of the Legions of Death is an exiting, fast cutting song. The guitars and drums in this song are very reminiscent of Slayer, but with a Metallica style melody and shouted vocals. The whole song has a never ending hail of hard cutting guitars which makes it exciting. My favorite part of this song is towards the end when the singer screams "Curse of the Legions of Death!" This song tells about a wave of death and murder caused by the so called "legions of death," from the perspective of the legions themselves. The seem to have come from hell and are slaughtering anyone in their path, especially virgins for some reason, "all virgins must die this night."
The is a great 80s thrash album that is a great listen for anyone who is a fan of classic thrash, or really anyone else.
Testament - The Legacy
1.) Over the Wall
2.) The Haunting
3.) Burnt Offerings
4.) Raging Waters
5.) C.O.T.L.O.D.
6.) First Strike is Deadly
7.) Do or Die
8.) Alone in the Dark
9.) Apocalyptic City
3.) Burnt Offerings
4.) Raging Waters
5.) C.O.T.L.O.D.
6.) First Strike is Deadly
7.) Do or Die
8.) Alone in the Dark
9.) Apocalyptic City
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