Trial by Fire is an EP by the Californian thrash band Testament, released in 1988 on Megaforce Worldwide. It arrived in the same year as the group's second studio album, The New Order, and just after their debut, The Legacy, which came out in 1987.
It belongs to the opening stretch of a career that has run for decades, taking in albums from Practice What You Preach in 1989 right through to Para Bellum in 2025. For anyone tracing how Testament's early years unfolded, this short release is a useful stop between their first two full-length records.
Trial by Fire: tracklist and credits
3 tracks · 13:04Tracklist
- 1Trial by FirePeterson, Skolnick, Billy4:23
- 2Nobody's FaultSteven Tyler and Brad Whitford3:57
- 3Reign of TerrorEric Peterson and Derrick Ramirez4:44
- Produced by
- Alex Perialas
- Executive producer
- Jon Zazula, Marsha Zazula
- Recorded at
- Pyramid Sound Recording Studios, Hollywood Palladium
- Recorded
- November 1992
- Mixed by
- Alex Perialas
- Mixed at
- Pyramid Sound Recording Studios
- Engineered by
- Alex Perialas
- Label
- Megaforce Worldwide
- Length
- 13:04
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More from Testament
Full discography →
The Legacy
1987
The New Order
1988
Practice What You Preach
1989
Souls of Black
1990
The Ritual
1992
Return to the Apocalyptic City
1993
Low
1994
Live at the Fillmore
1995
The Best of Testament
1996
Demonic
1997
Signs of Chaos: The Best of Testament
1997
The Gathering
1999
The Very Best of Testament
2001
First Strike Still Deadly
2001
Days of Darkness
2004
Live in London
2005
The Spitfire Collection
2007
The Formation of Damnation
2008
Live at Eindhoven ’87
2009
Dark Roots of Earth
2012
Dark Roots of Thrash
2013
Brotherhood of the Snake
2016
Titans of Creation
2020
Para Bellum
2025
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More on Megaforce Worldwide
The label →
How we know the release date only year precision available
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 1988 | |
| US release | 1988 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 1988 | earliest UK or European date |
2 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | XE | Megaforce Worldwide | 07567865950 | original |
| 1988 | US | Atlantic | original |
Cover art sources
coverartarchive · cropped: cropped from 3771x3684 to 3000x3000
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| coverartarchive ✓ | 3771×3684 | cropped: cropped from 3771x3684 to 3000x3000 |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |