Interview: Testament
Sometimes things just come together nicely with everything. The sound, the musical content, the lyrics, it just hits right. I feel like this is one of those records.
Thrash titans Testament have consistently been one of metals most reliable bands, from their fiery beginnings over four decades ago all the way up to the present, the Bay Area band have brought high octane passion and power in everything they have done. Para Bellum, their latest opus is another collection of classic Testament anthems and Gavin Brown caught up with Testament guitarist Eric Peterson to discuss the band’s new album and reflect on all things Testament, celebrating one of thrash metal’s greatest and most influential bands.
E&D: Your new album, Para Bellum has recently come out. How happy are you for Testament to be back with this album, and how has it been received so far?
Eric: Yeah, I’m very happy with it. It’s been a long time. We had the pandemic, and then, there was the big pause on touring. We’ve gone through a lot. We have a new addition in the band, Chris Dovas, our new drummer, and we pushed through on this one, made it happen. We’re very happy with it for sure.
E&D: The album is really ferocious and energetic. Does it feel like a whole new lease of life for Testament with this album?
Eric: That’s the feeling I’m getting from everybody. We’re just doing what we’re doing, but sometimes things just come together nicely with everything. The sound, the musical content, the lyrics, it just hits right. I feel like this is one of those records. I think all our other records are great, too, but this one is where we’re at in time and everything just feels really good.
E&D: How has 2025 been for Testament? Obviously, you’ve got the album and you’ve been touring as well.
Eric: Yeah, it’s been a really busy year, we’ve gone through mixing the record, putting the record out and touring in between the recording too. It’s been kind of crazy. Usually, we like to take a break when we write and just go away, but it just seemed like everything was catching up with us touring wise, and we enjoy it. We like being out on the road.
E&D: To have done an awesome animated video for the album track ‘High Noon’. Was that a cool thing to do?
Eric: I think so. We found this new company that does that kind of stuff, and they did ‘Shadow People’ as well. ‘High Noon’ was kind of not going to happen. We were talking about doing another video, because we already had two done at that time. We did ‘Infanticide AI’, and then we put out ‘Shadow People’, and the record was coming out in a month. I think the label was like, I think I don’t think we’re going to do another video. But then they sent me a video, and it just had some footage of these cowboys just riding on the plain, and it didn’t really go in. I thought we weren’t doing it, so I called up the company that had did ‘Shadow People’, and they loved the record. They gave us a great deal and just made it happen, within a week. That is funny, it wasn’t planned, but it’s one of the better ones. We’ve never done anything Western or anything like that, so it’s a lot of fun. I think the storyboard on it’s pretty cool.
E&D: You recently covered ‘Seek & Destroy’ by Metallica for a tribute album. How was the experience of giving that song the Testament treatment?
Eric: It’s a great song, and for me, goes back to high school. That was one of the first songs that really caught my attention from their demo No Life Til’ Leather, it goes way back, the riffs and just being a part of heavy metal. We actually recorded that in 2023, it was done a long time ago. It just took forever for it to come out, I almost forgot about it! But yeah, it was a lot of fun, and it’s a classic song, and it fits us a lot. You can tell where Metallica is an influence for Testament, for sure.
E&D: Does it make you proud that Testament and so many of your peers from Metallica, Exodus, Death Angel, are still going stronger than ever, putting out records and touring the world?
Eric: It’s great. We’re all true metalheads. We’re really into what we do. If I could look back when I was younger to see all of us still doing this when we’re in our 50s and 60s, I’d be like, there’s no way, but, yeah it’s great. I’m very happy where we’re at right now, it’s cool!
E&D: Do you still get that same excitement setting foot on stage and into the studio?
Eric: Oh, yeah, especially when you know you’ve got something good. Our last record, or all of our previous records, we strive to really have good material. We’re very picky. When I’m writing riffs and putting stuff together, I’m the biggest fan of Testament. I’m not letting anybody hear anything until I know this is cool. I got to get that reaction from them too. If any of us don’t like it, I mean, we’ll fight for it if we really believe in it, but we will let stuff go, just so we all feel the same vibe.
E&D: How did the Thrash of the Titans tour with Obituary, Destruction and Nervosa go recently, and what were some of the highlights?
Eric: That was a great tour. It went really well. With that lineup, it’s great. We had a new record out. I think Destuction had some new stuff out. Obituary was doing Cause Of Death in its entirety. Then the newcomers, Nervosa were amazing. There were a lot of sold out shows. Ireland was really good. London was amazing. All the UK shows were great. Italy was off the hook. That was a great show. Of course, Germany, I mean, all were really good.
E&D: You also toured with Kreator and Posssesed last year on the Klash of the Titans tour. Was that great to do? All these big tours with so many cool bands.
Eric: Yeah, we always strive to have a good lineup. We have a tour coming up in the States in March with Overkill and Destruction. We’re very fortunate, and lucky to have so many cool bands and peers that go back like us, and still are able to do it and it is very viable. It’s pretty cool.
E&D: Do these tours have the same vibe of the original Clash of the Titans tour with Slayer, Megadeth and Suicidal Tendencies in the early 90s?
Eric: That was a while ago. I feel like that we’re all older and have lived our lives and stuff, I feel like it’s more genuine with everybody. I feel like there’s more and more family. It’s a family feeling, especially the last one, everybody’s just hanging out, and no weird vibes from anybody, just really cool.
E&D: What are your main memories of that original Clash of the Titans tour?
Eric: It was a lot of fun! Slayer, Megadeth Testament and Suicidal, and it was all through Europe. It was a special time for sure. All the shows were pretty crazy. Probably one of the highlights for me was seeing Chuck drink a whole bottle of Jägermeister, and then he stopped all the buses and coaches from leaving the site of some show. I remember he was in the front row, and I think the Slayer guys were pointing at him, that was pretty fun!
E&D: Who else have you loved to tour with over the years?
Eric: We’ve toured with so many bands. We really had a great time with Obituary. We’d like to tour at them again. We had a great time with Cannibal Corpse. We did a South American tour at them that went really well. Kreator are cool. Just all of them! Death Angel, Exodus. Judas Priest was great. We toured with Iron Maiden, that was a lot of fun. They were going through a weird transition with Fear Of The Dark. They were they were on their way to splitting with Bruce Dickinson, so the vibes were kind of weird. Of course, that’s a long time ago, and they came back, and they’re monsters now again. So that’s awesome, but that was a lot of fun. We’ve had a some good shows, a lot of cool bands.
E&D: Apart from the tour you just mentioned, you’ll be continuing to tour throughout this year?
Eric: Yeah, we’re going to do the States and Canada then Asia and maybe some of the Eastern blocs in Europe.
E&D: Will you be doing the big summer festivals as well?
Eric: Oh yeah, we’re playing Bloodstock too, that’s exciting.
E&D: How does it feel to still be doing this after so long, and with Testament being bigger than ever?
Eric: It feels great, Like I said, just thinking back when I was younger, I can’t imagine someone saying, hey, forty years later, and if they played me ‘For The Love Of Pain’, I’d be like, what? Wait. How could we be forty years older and we’re heavier than our first record?! The original stuff’s classic, and that’s embedded in everybody’s lives, and, with me. I mean, just all the old school stuff of what I grew up listening to, that’s my favourite stuff, but for bands like Testament to still be putting out stuff that’s quality and up to par with what we did when we were younger, is pretty amazing, I think.
E&D: Is writing new music still as thrilling for you as well?
Eric: Yeah, writing is always a challenge, but it’s awesome when it just comes to you, and it feels good because I’ve been to where I’m spinning my wheels trying to write something, probably more on records in the past. The last couple of ones felt good really trying to put something together. You finally get there, but I feel like this last one was just kind of like an Ouija board, just giving us all the answers we wanted, and we weren’t trying to push it.
E&D: Do you get riff ideas all the time?
Eric: Yeah, I’ve lost a lot of them in my head. I’ve had some really good ones come to me, and I think to myself, I’ll totally remember that, the next day, I’m like, wait, what? On my phone, I’ve got some recordings, and I’m listening to it a year later, like, what is this? I’m like a singer trying to hum a riff, and it just doesn’t work that way. You have to actually play guitar.
E&D: With so many songs from albums to choose from, do you find it difficult trying to make a set list when you when playing live that encapsulate everything about Testament?
Eric: It’s pretty easy, but the hard part is everybody else agreeing! For the most part, we all agree, but when you try to throw older stuff in that we’ve never done, or not played in a while, there’s always somebody like, I’m not feeling that one but it’s cool to at least try them, I think, It’s easy but it’s not, especially want to, especially when you want to do newer stuff.
E&D: Would you play an album in full live like you mentioned Obituary doing earlier?
Eric: Yeah, we actually, we actually did in 2024. We did Legacy and The New Order in its entirety, our first few records. We did Practice What You Preach in its entirety when we went out in the States. We went out by ourselves. We didn’t have any opening bands, and we just did an evening with Testament. It was a lot of fun.
E&D: Is that something you’d like to do more of in the future?
Eric: Yeah, I think when Souls Of Black comes out, our re-release, actually, that’s the one record that we’re actually going to remix. I’ve heard the remix of Souls Of Black, and it sounds really good. We’d like to do something like that again, since we only tested the waters out in the States, so maybe with a little bit more promotion and talking about it, we could do something like that in Europe and UK and stuff.
E&D: What do you still want to do with the band that you haven’t done yet?
Eric: That’s a good question. I mean, obviously it’d be nice to get a big tour with some bands that we haven’t toured with yet. We’ve signed a new record deal with Nuclear Blast for two more records, so I’d love to see those though and write material like we just did, just stay very heavy and melodic, and all that good stuff.
E&D: Who your biggest influences as a guitar player today and in the past?
Eric: Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, Tony Iommi. Then there’s Frank Marino, Pat Travers. There’s so many guitar players out there that are just amazing. Jams Hetfield, I love his playing, he’s amazing. Excellent question!
E&D: What have been some of the standout memories from all the years in Testament, stuff that stays with you to this day?
Eric: When our for our record first came out. It was really cool. The first record we got invited to do two nights in New York at a club called L’Amour with Slayer when they were touring Reign In Blood. The first night, the crowd just chanted Slayer and spat on us, and Chuck was catching all their spit. The next night, I think, just from our attitude, we didn’t get spat on anymore. I think we won over the crowd, it was cool!
E&D: Do you still get that same buzz now with Para Bellum?
Eric: When we played in the UK, we played a couple of songs off the record, and it felt really good. ‘Infanticide AI’ feels really good live. I can’t wait to play some more of the new songs live, but yeah, the feeling’s there for sure. You get the goosebumps, that’s a good sign. I felt that way when we were mixing it, like man, I hope everybody likes this as much as me. And so far, I think everybody’s digging it.
