Their lineup consisted of singer Steve "Zetro" Souza, guitarists Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson, bassist Greg Christian and drummer Louie Clemente.

AllMusic's Alex Henderson rated the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, and said that it saw Testament earn respect in "thrash circles" and called it "a relentlessly heavy and promising effort focusing on such subjects as the occult, witchcraft, nuclear war, and global destruction."

This was thrash metal right to its core, it was full of passion and integrity that was starting to drift away from those bands which had become more established and signed to major labels.

Even now, The Legacy sounds great with tracks like 'Apocalyptic City', 'The Haunting' and 'Burnt Offerings' leading the charge and although the production wasn't fantastic, thrash never needed that to create some spectacular.

"[7] Within three years after its release in 1987, The Legacy had sold over 150,000 copies in the U.S.[8] Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album liner notes.