
   *=--                                                                --=*
   {       "I'm not gonna lie to your readers.  I choose to smoke pot,    }
                       and I like it."  --
   {                                        Chuck Billy,  vocalist        }
   *=--                                                                --=*

                         *=--                      --=*
                         {            the             }
                            -=/*> Buzzz Bros. <*\=-
                                    present..

                   TESTAMENT - HIGH TIMES Interview (May, 1991)

                                      and

                      TESTAMENT - 'Souls Of Black' (lyrics)

                               text entry by Havoc
                         {                            }
                         *=--                      --=*



     Combining the resounding of original hard-rock purveyors like Black
Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin with the urgent sonic velocity and
aggressive intent of early 80's hardcore a la Black Flag and Discharge,
modern-day speed-lace heavy metal is arguably the most important force in
music today.  Spearheaded by the massive and seemingly-unlikely successes of
bands like Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, a second generation of speed-metal
has evolved.  Leading the way are Bay Area bad boys, Testament.

     Born out of teenage suburban boredom and a diligent fervor for playing
frenetically brain-jarring hyper-riffs, these five merchants of mosh (slang
for the often hazardous acts of stage diving and slam dancing by fans at
concerts), vocalist Chuck Billy, guitarists Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson,
bassist Greg Christian and drummer Louie Clemente are soaring towards
legendary status.

     Over the course of their four mind-blistering vinyl/laser efforts
(1987's debut "The Legacy", followed by '88's "The New Order", '89's
Practice What You Preach", and last year's ground-breaking "Souls Of Black",
all released through Megaforce / Atlantic), Testament have built a reputation
or unleashing no-frills, uncompromising music.  Last year saw them touring
European arenas (as part of the heralded "Clash Of The Titans" tour with
Slayer, Megadeth and Suicidal Tendencies), similar-sized American venues
(with Judas Priest), and most recently, in support of death-metal icons,
Slayer.  The tried-and-true rock success formula of non-stop touring and
recording has paid off for the Testa-men, with significant radio and MTV
airplay for their single "Souls Of Black," lucrative merchandising and some
serious six-digit sales figures (over 400,000 units of Souls Of Black sold at
press time).  They've made their mark as keepers of the speed-metal flame,
and don't plan to change anytime soon.

     "I think the main reson we've survived is that we do what we like, we
never sold out," offers Chuck Billy, the band's imposing vocalist.  "Not to
sound corny or anything, but we've always played music from the heart.  We're
fans of the music we play -- which is hard, fast speed-metal and thrash
music.  It's all about playing music with lots of energy, and keeping it
challenging.  As far as I'm concerned, that's what heavy music should be.  We
don't wanna be like Metallica or Slayer -- but we're obviously fans of their
style from over the years, and they've been a major influence on us.
Testament is a heavy band, but we try to do something different from the
average thrash band."

     A major part of Testament's essence is their bond with their
somtimes-anarchic audience, and their fandom's extremely physical reaction to
the music -- namely, "the pit," where participants mosh and otherwise get
wild.  "Yeah, we're into the action," Billy relates, "We get off and we get
excited when the crowd gets into it.  The wilder they get out there, the more
hyped we get.  A lot of bands may say something like that, but in our case,
we need it.  That's a major part of what Testament's all about.  If they're
not goin' crazy out there, I'm probably not going to be able to give the best
performance, if you know what I mean."

     "Now that we've mover up to a bigger level -- playing arenas and big
halls instead of the clubs -- we've been lucky that things haven't really
changed.  Sure, there's a barrier between us and the audience now [arenas and
concert halls usually erect a wall between the stage and the front row, for
photographers and/or protection of the artists], but as long as we can see
the kids out there goin' wild, we're okay.  We're glad that things are movin'
on for us real well, but we don't wanna lose sight of what got us there in
the first place.  Our music's still heavy and in-your-face, and that's the
main thing.  We're not gonna get weird about things now that we're becoming a
little more well-known.  There's some people out there who think it's bad to
make it big -- some kids think you've sold-out just because you start sellin'
some records.  And some bands think that you shouldn't go big-time.  We're
not into that.  We want our music to become as big and popular as possible --
that's what it's all about.  We don't wanna be an unsuccessful underground
band, we want people to remember Testament, and hopefully they'll be somehow
influenced by what we do and say."

     What Testament offer that's different from standard metal fare are
lyrics with significant meaning.  While they're not exactly Jackson Browne or
U2 (many of the band's lyrics are steeped on the darker side of life and/or
fantasy characters), Testament have garnered considerable acclaim for songs
with social significance -- like 1989's "Greenhouse Effect" or "Perilous
Nation," which comment on various environmental / political issues.  "We're
not here to change the world; we're just a band," Chuck says.  "We're not a
political band, we don't wanna get ourselves stuck in that trap.  But we do
observe a lot of things that go on in day-to-day life, and as a band, we
should be free to express ourselves as we see fit.  As far as the kinda
political songs we have got, there's a lot of fucked up things going on out
there in the world, and we shouldn't not talk about them, just 'cause we're a
metal band.  The greenhouse effect is a universal thing, even thrashers are
gonna have to deal with it. It's important for people to know what's going on
in the world, and music should be just another place for them to learn.  But
like I said, that's only one small part of our music, and because of that, it
does sometimes get overexaggerated."

     "Also, when we play live, the songs are a little bit different and
faster, and it's pretty much there for the kids to mosh to, and let off some
aggression.  So, we don't really expect people to get the words we're sayin
in our songs when it's live at a club or theater or somethin'.  But when the
fan goes home, and listens to the record and read the lyric sheet, that's
where we're gonna make some impact.  But we're not preaching either.  We
don't offer any solutions to these things -- after all, we don't have the
answers ourselves.  We do pose the questions, so the kids can go out and
decide for themselves what should be done to help -- if they want to."

     To the casual outside obsever, a heavy-metal concert can be a violent
experience.  Metal fans ain't exactly angels, to say the least, and their
collective reactions to their fave acts is usually rabid and out-of-control.
Frontman Billy explains this unique artist-fan relationship: "Our music, and
[that of] bands like us, gives the fans a chance to release some of their
built-up aggression or frustration.  When they come to a Testament show, they
can go off and get really into it.  Our music is heavy and we use it to let
off some steam too.  As a fan, I always liked metal because it was powerful
and heavy, and that's what we try to do.  But people have got to realize that
while things get really crazy sometimes, it's all in fun.  We're not trying
to get people to kill themselves.  We don't write songs that say 'Kill your
mom.'  We're not into that.  The only times we've had any real problems with
real violence is when gang members would come to a show and try to start
fights -- that happened a few years ago when we played with Suicidal
Tendencies -- and that was pretty much the only time.  Those people should
realize that if they wanna fight, they should stay away from the shows and go
fight in the street.  But yeah, luckily, we haven't had many problems with
bad violence at our gigs, most people don't take it to that extreme.  There's
violence at our concerts, but it's friendly, and the fans know that.  That's
why you haven't heard of anyone getting killed at one of our shows, or
anything like that."

     Another thing which seperates Testament from the mindless metal millions
is that they're not one of those groups who are the real sell-outs, doing
"Just Say No" propaganda/public service announcements for radio and
television while privately feeding costly cocaine/heroin habits.  Testament
are proud weed smokers, who fight for their right to party.  "It burns me up.
 I don't do coke or crank or any other shit like that -- I smoke pot.  It's
just a plant, and I get shit for that.  They say drugs are drugs, which is
bullshit.  My manager always gives me shit whenever I say anything about this
subject, but I'm just telling you the truth.  I'm not gonna sit here and say
I'm an angel when I'm not.  I'm not gonna lie to the kids, and I'm not gonna
lie to your readers.  I choose to smoke pot, and I like it.  I'm not tellin'
people that they should smoke pot too -- that would be wrong and
hyppocritical -- but I do support people's freedom to do what they choose.
The way things are now in our society, you can get arrested for smoking a
plant, and that seems ridiculous to me."

     Beyond Neanderthal metal and bullshit music-biz posturing, Testament are
a band that simply makes hard rock that matters -- incorporating
politically-conscious lyrics with fantasy metal tales, and mixing speed-laced
power chords with memorable harmonies.  Testament have stuck to their guns
and are reaping the rewards of hard work.

     All this and mosh music too.
____________________________

HIGH TIMES May, 1991  - Steven Bush
____________________________




             -=*/>  TESTAMENT  -  Souls Of Black (lyrics)  <\*=-



                   1.  Beginning Of The End
                       --------------------
                       Music: Peterson


                   2.  Face In The Sky
                       ---------------
                       Lyrics: Billy
                       Music: Peterson, Skolnick


                       Shadows glow from the full moonlight
                       Hear clouds cry, it's so insane
                       Souls hold on to the key of life
                       See how it's bleeding from the pain

                       Chorus:
                       -------
                       When will they open up their eyes
                       Stop to face our demise
                       It's live or die
                       Who am I?
                       Face in the Sky

                       Walk with me, my friend
                       to a darkened place
                       Welcome down to the abyss
                       Caught between two worlds
                       with no advocate
                       The legions' army
                       Hold on to your fate

                       Chorus

                       Screams from the night
                       seem to intensify
                       as the air shifts silent through
                       ghouls crowded in the clouds
                       on a misty night
                       guarding secrets
                       man has brought to you

                       Chorus


                   3.  Falling Fast
                       ------------
                       Lyrics: Billy
                       Music: Peterson, Clemente


                       Locked in a darkened world
                       Made to never last
                       That's where the dreams you seek
                       are like stories from the past
                       Sweet infant child's born
                       Sweet mother of the womb
                       Hope it is over soon
                       Not much more I can take

                       Help me lord
                       I'm falling fast
                       Bring me Back

                       Nerves slip away from
                       within your conscious mind
                       Translucent hopes are now
                       nothing but dismal lies
                       You lived your life so down
                       to the bitter end
                       Better think it over now
                       You life has just begun

                       Help me lord
                       I'm falling fast
                       Bring me back
                       From suicide

                       Just show me life is how
                       And not a bitter war
                       The odds in favor now
                       It's hard to live and learn
                       Silence the sorrow
                       and don't let it slip away
                       Think of tomorrow
                       as the future of today

                       Help me lord
                       I'm falling fast
                       Bring me back
                       from suicide
                       I'm falling fast

                       Locked in a darkened world
                       Made to never last
                       That's where the draems you seek
                       are like storie's from the past
                       Sweet infant child's born
                       to the mother of the Womb
                       Hope it is over soon
                       not much more I can take

                       Chorus


                   4.  Souls of Black
                       --------------
                       Lyrics: Billy
                       Music: Peterson, Skolnick, Clemente


                       Can't you see
                       that in the world we live in
                       political lies
                       are just corporate decisions
                       They'll take away
                       all the hopes, not their promises
                       They'll put an end to all this
                       land of the living

                       Chorus:
                       -------
                       Look at the lost souls
                       They seem so black
                       Look at the lost souls
                       Souls of black

                       The get control
                       of the heart of a nation
                       Their social bribes
                       seem so graciously
                       as time goes by
                       'Cause time as you can see
                       will slowly die for you and me

                       Chorus

                       So put an end
                       to this idolization
                       Antagonizing so commonly
                       Open your eyes
                       'Cause the lie's there so plain to see
                       Life goes on
                       There's no gaurantees

                       Chorus

                       They're bleeding so black


                   5.  Absence Of Light
                       ----------------
                       Lyrics: Billy, Skolnick
                       Music: Peterson, Billy


                       Life, as we know,
                       is full of gloom
                       Oppress the massess
                       We'll lead to our doom
                       We want the right
                       to live or die
                       Can't take away
                       What we feel inside

                       Like empty shadows
                       afflict our brains
                       Envision our dreams
                       just to ease the pain
                       There's more to life
                       than to satisfy
                       I ask myself
                       for the reason why.

                       Chorus:
                       -------
                       If it were my way
                       I'd deliver us from this hell
                       If it were my way.

                       If ever there comes a day
                       Renovations blown away.
                       Is there no end
                       to this endless war
                       The fear of man
                       is now what's in store
                       We look at life as a memory
                       Long live the dreams
                       That they took from me

                       Chorus


                   6.  Love To Hate
                       ------------
                       Lyrics: Peterson, Clemente & Billy
                       Music: Peterson, Skolnick


                       Hail to the new leader now
                       Ruler of this land,
                       with plans that follow
                       to demonstrate
                       Fear the blackened band
                       So horrid
                       and deathly true
                       Dishonest and powermad
                       Unspoken, sealed fate
                       Bursting so desolate

                       Chorus
                       ------
                       His love to hate
                       He'll murder souls like you and me
                       But along the way
                       He'll have you to dwell
                       in his own hell

                       Clear the streets
                       See them marching
                       while columns take a stand
                       Time provoked, their mirrors of hatred
                       with dark uncanny plans
                       to take out
                       and follow through
                       Just following their orders
                       with death rates
                       and death's tolll
                       Those poor unfortunate souls

                       Chorus

                       Twisting and turning
                       through the mazes in your head
                       But in a time like this
                       you're better off dead
                       The time has come now
                       Put up or shut down
                       The feelings that you have
                       were lost and never found

                       Chorus


                   7.  Malpractice
                       -----------
                       Lyrics: Skolnick, Billy
                       Music: Skolnick, Peterson


                       We all will go and stay sometime
                       Soon to be a victim of a crime
                       Loss of blood and death is near
                       Take a number, can you wait right here

                       Chorus:
                       -------
                       Check in - to the place
                       Reduce you life into disgrace
                       Isn't there some kind
                       of better way

                       When it's time to operate
                       fatalistic figures hold your fate
                       Just relax you'll feel no pain
                       Hope they put you in the right domain

                       Patients helpless to defy
                       Negligence is why

                       Chorus

                       Within the laws
                       they'll rip you off
                       then write you off
                       Malpractice!
                       And in the end
                       they'll let you in
                       Please come again
                       Malpractice!

                       Suffer until you get well
                       Bleak exsistence like a prison cell
                       If you find your life is lost
                       Dedicate the world to pay the cost

                       Patients helpless to defy
                       Negligence is why

                       Chorus

                       Within the laws
                       they'll rip you off
                       then write you off
                       Malpractice!
                       And in the end
                       they'll let you in
                       Please come again
                       Malpractice!


                   8.  One Man's Fate
                       --------------
                       Lyrics: Billy
                       Music: Peterson, clemente


                       Time is nothing but life's decay
                       Pitch your reverend path
                       This is the path you paved
                       What you will find
                       is life's only way
                       There's no looking back
                       There must be a better way

                       Lightning skies
                       Prayers from an open grave
                       A dead man's day

                       Black skies fade to shadow grey
                       The darkness is so deep
                       Prayers for the light of day
                       What you will find
                       is life's only way
                       There's no looking back
                       back to a better way

                       Lightning skies
                       Prayers from an open grave
                       A dead man's eyes

                       Must be a dead man's day
                       that leads to one man's fate
                       There ain't no better way to die

                       Fate, there's no compromise
                       Hate leads to suicide
                       Trapped in a crystal haze
                       Hail to a dead man's day

                       Time is but a passageway
                       trying to believe
                       your life was sanity
                       A matter of time
                       is all that you need
                       Life's not coming back,
                       back to those better days

                       Lightning skies
                       Prayers from an open grave
                       A dead man's eyes
                       Must be a dead man's day


                   9.  The Legacy
                       ----------
                       Lyrics: Skolnick, Billy, Peterson
                       Music: Peterson, Clemente, Skolnick


                       We're gonna take you back
                       through the pages of the past
                       Just another lonely boy

                       I could laugh and play
                       and live in any other way
                       Then the devil took my soul

                       The fortune and the fame
                       I knew I was not the same
                       and I know I'd never return

                       Looking at the sky
                       I knew I would never die
                       And forever shining through

                       Wish the sky would say
                       that blue would turn to grey
                       and I know I'd be there

                       Chorus:
                       -------
                       Life was like a fantasy
                       taken by reality
                       Does anyone remember me

                       Flashes of the sky
                       I knew I was here to stay
                       But no one stays the same

                       Turn the pages back in time
                       through the chapters in my mind
                       Life's too short to leave behind
                       It's too late now

                       Chorus

                       Flashes of the day
                       I knew I was here to stay
                       But no one
                       knows my name


                  10.  Seven Days Of May
                       -----------------
                       Lyrics: Skolnick, Billy
                       Music: Peterson, Skolnick


                       Put your life on the line
                       To hesitate is a waste of time
                       No giving in to repent
                       unto the system of the government

                       It's called the Peoples Republic here
                       The propaganda so sincere
                       Oh, what a joke and a blatant lie
                       from criminals ranking high

                       Chorus:
                       -------
                       Born a political prisoner
                       Raised outside the law
                       I'm gonna keep on fighting
                       until I die for the cause

                       Put an end to hipocracy
                       Lead the way to Democracy
                       No longer will we play the fool
                       to brutalized military rule
                       They started forty years ago
                       We never could say yes or no
                       Million souls made our voice
                       We want the right to make a choice

                       Chorus

                       Freedom, freedom calling
                       out from the pain
                       Freedom, freedom calling
                       seven days in May

                       They tried to show a peaceful path
                       then it turned into a blood bath
                       In the Square they plan the game
                       That's when the tanks of the army came.

                       They called the murders minimal
                       Described their victims as criminals
                       Dead souls like you and me
                       who only wanted free society

                       Chorus

                       Freedom, freedom calling
                       out from the pain
                       Freedom, freedom calling
                       seven days in May

                         -----------------------------

                          All melodies by Chuck Billy
                         All arrangements by Testament

                 All compositions (c) 1990 COTLOD Music (adm. by
             Zomba Enterprises Inc.)  Zomba Enterprises Inc. (ASCAP)
                  All Rights Reserved.  Used without permission.

   ____________________________

        Special Thanks to:
   ____________________________

   Kilbourn
   Alannah and Vanessa at Kroozin' Music
   HIGH TIMES

(c) MCMXCI  -=*/> Buzzz Bros. <\*=-

