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THE TRUTH ABOUT: Testament | History Defined

“Chuck Schuldiner called me. The next thing I knew we’d rented a rehearsal room in Miami. I would just burn a joint and play”: Steve DiGiorgio’s life with Death – and why he wouldn’t trade Testament for Megadeth

The fretless metal bass pioneer recalls refusing to leave Testament, the homemade bass built out of necessity and Death’s determination to avoid the familiar

Guitar World

“I’m a heavy hitter, so I had to calm down my attack. In the studio we nicknamed it ‘self-compressing’”: How fretless bass master Steve DiGiorgio embraced frets on Testament’s 2016 metal masterstroke

For Brotherhood of the Snake, DiGiorgio wielded little more than a stock 1978 Rickenbacker 4001

Guitar World

"I started chemo and got in touch with my Native American roots." How Testament's Chuck Billy survived cancer (and grunge) to become a thrash metal legend

Testament, Marvel's What If...?, an upcoming biography: Chuck Billy is a man of many talents

Metal Hammer

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"I took my scooter up the lift and rode it through the corridors naked in drag make-up with just a tie on." A brilliant and bonkers interview with Motorhead's late, great Phil Campbell

Equine pranks, epic benders and a million-dollar tantrum: This is what it was like being the (second) longest-serving member in rock'n'roll's greatest band

Metal Hammer

“People wanna assume the worst and say he’s some kind of dictator and forced me to do it. It was totally not like that”: Steve Di Giorgio sets the record straight on what it was like to sideman for Dave Mustaine and Megadeth

The Testament bassist has looked back on his experience recording on Megadeth's 2022 release, The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!

Guitar World

“The Six Feet Under gig was a fast ticket into touring. One of the first shows was in front of 45,000 people. I was used to playing for 20-30 people”: YouTube star, entrepreneur, go-to death metal guitarist… Inside the unstoppable rise of Ola Englund

The affable Swede on how he got his big break in Six Feet Under, the amps that make him feel “terrible” about his playing, and how he found YouTube success by being himself. As for Solar Guitars? Why not make the guitars himself?

Guitar World

Metal Hammer's albums of the year: 2025

From chart-toppers Ghost and Sleep Token to rising stars Lorna Shore and Spiritbox, 2025 has been a massive year for metal

Metal Hammer

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“People would say, ‘OMG, if this guy is in the back of a guitar store, teaching, what does it say about the music business?’ But, of course, within a few years, everybody would know his name”: Testament’s Alex Skolnick on what he learned from Joe Satriani

When a teenage Skolnick studied under Satch, he found a man who was “like the equivalent of studying with a classical piano or classical violin teacher” – except this guy could rock

MusicRadar

“I certainly got a new appreciation for the Megadeth stuff… it was amazing to see how far guitar quality had come in our genre of music”: Alex Skolnick on the time he was on standby for Megadeth – and what to do when you can’t match a player lick for lick

With Kiko Loureiro's wife pregnant, Megadeth needed an understudy for emergency cover. The Testament guitarist answered the call but admits Loureiro's solos were impossible

MusicRadar

“Like watching a molecular physicist beat up everyone in the pit”: This thrash metal band just released their first album since 1993 – and it’s the smartest thing to come from the genre all year

On their comeback album Dissonance Theory, Coroner embrace all the speed and brutality of thrash while leaving the cliches at the door

Metal Hammer

‘Chuck was breaking beer bottles over his own head’: thrash metal legends Testament on 40 years of mayhem

After their lead singer shed his glam rock spandex, the band became rivals to thrash’s Big Four. Still releasing potent high-octane riffage, they retread their path through cancer scares and jazz detours

The Guardian - UK

"While younger generations fanny around with cynical pop compromises, they're here to break necks." Looking for the best thrash metal album of 2025? Testament have your back with Para Bellum

40 years in, Testament are still doing it louder and better than most bands that arrived in their wake

Metal Hammer

The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now

Sabaton, Mudvayne and Limp Bizkit are among the best new metal songs this week. Plus, vote for your favourite!

Metal Hammer

“As great as it undoubtedly was, the bug-eyed insanity of thrash was nowhere to be heard in any of its songs”: How Metallica’s Black Album killed thrash metal

The band that helped create thrash pretty much killed it

Metal Hammer

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Metal Hammer

Hear Quicksand/Rival Schools frontman Walter Schreifels cover Pink Floyd for forthcoming animal welfare benefit album featuring exclusive tracks from Killswitch Engage, Snapcase, Orange 9mm, Testament's Alex Skolnick and more

Quicksand's Walter Schreifels has covered two songs from Pink Floyd's Animals album

Metal Hammer

“We did get very wild and crazy at points. I remember thinking, ‘Why aren’t we getting arrested?’”: The violent, bloody birth of the Bay Area thrash scene

How a handful of kids from Northern California changed the world

Guitar World

“I pushed myself to down-pick faster and make the riffs more aggressive. Maybe it’s the old man in me struggling to feel young and fighting back against aging”: How Killswitch Engage went to thrash metal bootcamp to deliver their face-ripping return

This Consequence is the sound of pent-up aggression, a creative release after Killswitch were stopped in their tracks. Dynamic duo Adam Dutkiewicz and Joel Stroetzel talk frontmen, riff tactics, and why nothing was too grimy for this

Guitar World

Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band has long been a proving ground for metal’s most outstanding players. From Randy Rhoads to Zakk Wylde, via Brad Gillis and Gus G, here are all the players – and nearly players – in the Osbourne saga

Among the ranks of Ozzy's six-string sidekicks are some of the most admired and imitated rock guitarists of all time. Some have lasted for years, others a single gig, and some on both ends are part of the elite group of musicians to have been fired over the phone by…

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Metal Hammer

“It was embarrassing”: Metallica’s …And Justice For All pushed bass players “to the back” in the 1990s, claims thrash legend

Testament and ex-Death man Steve Di Giorgio claims Metallica’s bass-free classic forced the instrument into the background for years afterwards

Guitar World

“I actually got to the point of doing a show and Ozzy hired me – he said he wanted me to do the gig”: Alex Skolnick looks back on his brief tenure as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist – and why it only lasted one show

The Testament guitarist blames a “management decision” on his short-lived spell, but looks back at the experience positively

Metal Hammer

"My parents were academics and not thrilled about me joining a thrash metal band." Testament's Alex Skolnick talks thrash, Clash Of The Titans and what it was like joining Ozzy Osbourne's band

Testament’s six-string superstar reflects on the chaos of the Bay Area, guesting with Lamb Of God and studying with jazz legends

Metal Hammer

“He sometimes gets overshadowed by his own brilliant lead playing”: What was underrated about Eddie Van Halen, according to Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick

Eddie Van Halen was the master of shredding, but he was capable of so much more as well, says Testament’s longtime guitarist

Metal Hammer

Hear ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo team with wife Paula and current Slayer guitarist Gary Holt to cover Scorpions’ Animal Magnetism

The mini-Slayer reunion is taken from To Cross Or To Burn, the second album by the Lombardos’ project Venamoris

Metal Hammer

“A great motivation at a time when I didn’t really know what to do next”: Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick remembers playing sole gig with Ozzy Osbourne

Skolnick played one concert with The Prince Of Darkness in June 1995 before being ushered out the door by management

Metal Hammer

“I could spend hours going through the mistakes we made and were made on our behalf. We all truly felt we could be big”: The tumultuous history of Testament, thrash metal’s greatest nearly-men

If there’s a thrash metal Big Five, Bay Area bangers Testament ares strong contenders

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