The Testament Frontman's Memoir Holding My Breath: The Two Testaments of Chuck Billy Arrives November 10
He screamed his way into metal history. Then cancer tried to silence him. Now, for the first time, Chuck Billy — the iconic frontman of Bay Area thrash legends Testament — is telling the whole story.
Holding My Breath: The Two Testaments of Chuck Billy arrives November 10, 2026 from Permuted Press, co-written with Dave Erickson. This is not your typical rock memoir, and the structure alone signals that: the book is split into two interlocking testaments.
The Old Testament is the story most metal fans know in broad strokes — the explosive birth of Bay Area thrash, the formation of Testament, the rivalries, the brotherhood, the reckless and glorious chaos of becoming one of the genre's most powerful voices. The New Testament is something rarer: Chuck Billy at 38, blindsided by a devastating cancer diagnosis, drawing on his Native American (Pomo) and Mexican-American heritage, spiritual healers, visions, and the fierce love of a metal community to survive. At the center of that community: the legendary Thrash of the Titans benefit concert — one of the most galvanizing moments in heavy metal history — which rallied old rivals into brothers while Chuck fought to stay alive.
"This book is about two versions of me that are really just one story," says Billy. "The guy who thought he was invincible, and the guy who learned how fragile life really is."
The book carries a foreword from Rob Halford (Judas Priest) and an afterword from Randy Blythe (Lamb of God). Chuck Billy's story extends well beyond music: he's been honored with a California State Assembly recognition for his positive influence on Native communities, appeared in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian's exhibition Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture, and won Best Music Video at the American Indian Film Festival for "Native Blood."
Fourteen Testament albums in. A cancer diagnosis beaten. A cultural legacy that extends into Native communities and the halls of Congress. This is the kind of story that deserved a full book, and it's finally getting one.