Meshuggah, Testament, and Blood Incantation

It’s fitting that this band takes their name from the Yiddish word meaning “Crazy”. Most things about them don’t make a lick of sense at first, everything from their songs to their lyrical themes to the fact that this band has had an album chart in the top 20 of the Billboard albums chart. It’s definitely difficult to wrap your head around, but if anything, they’ve earned it.

The band formed in the college town of Umeå out of the ashes of a previous band that lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal formed in 1985. The band as we know it today formed two years later but didn’t release anything until their debut E.P in 1989, entitled “Psykisk Testbild”. Only 1000 copies were pressed but it was enough to get them a deal with German metal legends Nuclear Blast.

“Contradictions Collapse”, their debut record, was recorded shortly afterwards and released in 1991. Between albums they released two E.Ps, “None” came first in 1994 and the second “Selfcaged”, was to be released in the same year. However, due to a freak accidents sustained in their day jobs both Thordendal and drummer Tomas Haake were out of action for the year, so “Selfcaged” came in 1995 instead.

It was just as well, the band embarked on their first major European tour supporting the might Machine Head and their second album “Destroy Erase Improve” was released in July. The album got the same critical acclaim as their debut, and eventually went on to be highly influential in the djent and Mathcore scenes of the late 2000’s.

Since then the band has received copious attention for their instrumental skills, broad experimental streak and intense live shows. They’ve supported the likes of Slayer and Tool and have performed on the Ozzfest tour. For a band this wilfully extreme and defiant, this is a shining example of how sometimes, quality and hard work can win out in the end.

Influenced by the emerging Californian thrash metal scene, Testament was originally formed of vocalist Steve Souza, guitarists Eric Peterson and Derrick Ramirez, bassist Greg Christian, and drummer Louie Clemente in 1983. However, only with the arrival of lead guitarist Alex Skolnick did the group rise above their peers, creating a polished melodic thrash metal sound. The band’s debut album “The Legacy” released in 1987 brought them instant success within thrash circles and led to immediate comparisons being drawn with Metallica. U.S. and European tours alongside Anthrax did wonders for the group’s exposure and led to the band second studio album “The New Order” in 1988.

The band’s third full-length album “Practice What You Preach” left the antiquated themes of the occult and gothic behind and focused on modern day politics and corruption. It became the band’s most popular album and resulted in noticeable airplay from MTV. 1990’s “Souls of Black” was released to fairly average reviews but sold well, despite having to compete with the growing grunge movement famed by the likes of Nirvana.

Testament’s fourth full-length became their best selling, a marked a return to a more traditional metal sound, it peaked at No. 55 on the Billboard 100 and featured the single “Return to Serenity”. After the release the band began to fade from mainstream view, and were unable to change with the times necessary for continued large-scale appeal. As a result this period was marked by constant line-up changes, with Eric Peterson remaining the only original member, and a disappointing string of albums including “Low” in 1994, “Demonic” in 1997, “The Gathering” in 1999, and “The Formation of Damnation” in 2008.

Despite this, the band has managed to retain an active and loyal following within the metal underground, who continue to see Testament perform live regularly. The band’s tenth studio album arrived in 2012 entitled “Dark Roots of Earth” and subsequently the live album “Dark Roots of Thrash” in 2013.