Deeper cuts: Testament performs music from remastered first two albums on current tour

It is a return to the beginning for Testament.

The band remastered its 1987 album, “The Legacy,” and its 1988 album, “The New Order.” It is now playing the albums on its current “Klash of the Titans” tour, co-headlining with Kreator and special guest Possessed. The tour hits the Albuquerque Convention Center on Wednesday, Oct. 23.

The band took over the rights of the two albums from Atlantic Records and had them remastered through Nuclear Blast Records.

“We decided, since we’re kind of talking about it and pushing it, let’s just play those records,” said Chuck Billy, lead vocalist for Testament. “It might be the last time that we do this. We actually have a reason to do it now. We’re just trying to make it a little special to perform what we’re actually promoting and talking about.”

Billy said the band has always performed about four songs off of the first two records, and the songs have been part of Testament’s set lists throughout its career. Songs such as “Over the Wall,” “Into the Pit” and “The New Order,” have always been part of Testament shows.

“It’s nice that we’re playing the deeper cuts that we don’t play,” Billy said of the current tour. “It’s funny, because we did this, I think, at the Milwaukee Metal Fest, and we thought we were going to need at least a week or more of rehearsals. We got to the studio, and day one, the songs were so tight. Everybody knew their parts. I remembered all the lyrics. It was like riding a bike. It just came back so natural.”

Billy said the band put in two years of playing before it secured a record deal and was able to record “The Legacy” and then “The New Order.”

“Those (albums) are just embedded in our brains, those songs,” Billy explained. “So to play them, especially the deep cuts that we don’t play, they came back so naturally, and now we’ve got the show down. It’s like a machine, and it’s tight and fun to play.”

It is hard for Billy to believe that 37 years have passed since “The Legacy” was released. He said fans are reliving their youth on the current tour.

“Every day we see fans going, ‘These are the songs that I grew up with in high school,’” Billy said. “Of course, they’ve all got gray hair, but they’re all (saying) ‘These are the songs I grew up in high school. I never got a chance to see you play these. So here I am, because I’ve heard that you’re playing these classic records.’ It’s kind of cool that we’re doing it. It’s bringing some of the older fans (and giving them) a chance to come out and relive what they remember growing up with.”

Billy said he is also seeing younger generations coming to the shows as well.

“I see the younger generation sometimes lifting their hands, but they’re the ones that I meet and talk to that have their dad or their uncle or somebody introduce them to the band, but they haven’t seen us yet,” he said. “It’s definitely people passing the torch down through generations. I feel that we’re playing the songs better than ever, so it’s actually a really good representation to see. And we’re not old guys trying to play and not playing 100%. We’re on fire with these songs and it brings back the history and the memory for us too. It feels so good to do it.”

Testament, which hails from Berkeley, California, was part of the thrash metal movement that came out of the Bay Area with bands such as Metallica, Exodus, Death Angel, Forbidden, Vio-Lence and others.

“We didn’t really know that it was a new scene,” Billy explained. “It was just part of the scene. We did know that Northern California was much different than Southern California. Southern California had a lot of hair metal bands where the Bay Area, I think, once that scene started creating itself, a lot of those hairbands moved to (Los Angeles). So next thing you know, we had all these venues with metal shows all the time. And so it was a scene that developed pretty quick and a lot of bands that came out pretty quick and had the opportunity to grow pretty quick because the venue space was available for us.”

Billy said Testament maintained its own sound and did not try to be a carbon copy of other bands coming out of the Bay Area.

“It was so new and fast that we didn’t try to copy Metallica, we didn’t copy Exodus, but we all created that thrash style and attitude that came with it,” he explained. “Everybody developed their own way of playing that style of music, which I thought was really interesting too, that it just wasn’t one brand and one style that everybody sounded the same. Everybody had different singer approaches, or different rhythmic approaches, which made everybody have their own identity.”

Last year, Testament added Chris Dovas, a young new drummer, to its lineup. Dovas, who was not born when the first Testament album came out, has brought a fresh, new energy to the band. A new album is anticipated to be released in 2025.

“It pushed everybody, it pushed me to push my voice, a little more screaming, a little more power vocals,” Billy said of the addition of Dovas. “But also, I don’t want to say the word ballad, but we have a slower song that’s very, I’ll say pretty. It’s very melodic and pretty and catchy that we haven’t done in probably 30 years, wrote a song like this.

“I think we have the confidence to just do it because it is so good, and there’s a little bit of everything on this record from classic Testament, but it’s a new, modern sounding Testament, especially music wise, and vocals. I’m pushing myself and trying new things, but you’ll also hear a classic voice that I’ve done.”