"We were writing the record for the last six months, and started recording in May," begins Testament singer Chuck Billy in a new interview with Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice, which can be seen below.
Elaborating further upon Testament's as yet untitled new studio album, which severs as the follow-up to 2020's Titans Of Creation, Chuck revealed that, "The drums are finished and half the vocals are done and most of the guitars. No leads or bass yet. Steve's (DiGiorgio, bassist) out on tour with Death To All, and Alex (Skolnick, guitarist) usually waits 'til Eric's (Peterson, guitarist) done with all rhythms. But we're trying to get it accomplished — we leave July 10th (for tour), so we're trying to get it all recorded before then."
When asked about the songwriting process for Testament's upcoming album, Chuck replied: "We started since November — since about November, we started working and through the holidays, Chris (Dovas, drummer) has been coming out, working with Eric a lot. And then into this beginning of this year, he's came out dozens of times and really has put a lot of fire under Eric and got him fired up and writing some pretty aggressive stuff, some really challenging stuff for Eric. Chris is — he's a young guy, 25 years old, a really fast, great drummer. So it's a little breath of some new life into the band and into the writing, really, which is exciting. We always write different things for every record, and once again, this is another Testament record that's gonna have some new stuff that we're exploring and stepping into. So we're looking forward to this one."
TMV: Would you say it's a progression from the last album?
Chuck Billy: "Yeah, but I think last record, I think I stayed in one vocal tone and range where this one, I'm doing a little bit of everything — some death metal vocals, classic Testament-style vocals. And then we actually have — I don't wanna say 'ballad', but we've got a slower song that has a lot of feeling. How's that? And we haven't done that in a long time. So, there's a little bit of everything, but staying true to the band."
TMV: Are you writing all the lyrics?
Chuck Billy: "I write most of them with — I've been writing with Del James. Del, he works with Guns N' Roses. He's been working with them and wrote with them a long time ago. I think his big hit is 'November Rain' with them. And we've been working (together) for over 20 years. So I always go down and work with him because I come up with a lot of the ideas and concepts, but he really interprets and gets the right words, how to say what I'm thinking. And we work fast. When we get together, we'll knock out like two songs in a day. So we don't mess around. We get there, say hello to each other, we sit down and we go right to work. It's about what we do."
This Fall, the Klash Of The Titans makes its triumphant return to North America. Fans will enjoy an epic night of metal with thrash royalty Testament and Kreator co-headlining the run. The 33-date trek will kick off on September 12th in Reno, making its way across the US, and will include seven Canadian dates before concluding in San Francisco on October 27th. Joining the night are special guests Bay Area death metal pioneers and labelmates Possessed. Confirmed dates are as listed:
September
12 - Reno, NV - Grand Sierra Resort
13 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
14 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Union Event Centre
16 - Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo
17 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theatre
18 - Vancouver, BC Canada - Vogue
20 - Calgary, AB Canada - MacEwan Hall
21 - Enoch, AB Canada - River Cree Casino
22 - Saskatoon, SK Canada - Coors Event Centre
24 - Winnipeg, MB Canada - Burton Cummings Theatre
26 - Maplewood, MN - Myth Live
27 - Chicago, IL - Radius
28 - Huber Heights, OH - Rose Music Center
29 - Detroit, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
October
1 - Cleveland, OH - The Agora
3 - Toronto, ON Canada - History
4 - Montreal, QC Canada - MTelus
5 - New Haven, CT - College Street
6 - Boston, MA - House of Blues
8 - Silver Spring, MD - The Fillmore
10 - Montclair, NJ - The Wellmont Theatre
11 - Bethlehem, PA - Wind Creek Casino
12 - Raleigh, NC - The Ritz
13 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
15 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
16 - St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Live
18 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall (Lawn)
19 - San Antonio, TX - The Aztec
20 - Dallas, TX - The Factory
22 - Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
23 - Albuquerque, NM - Albuquerque Convention Center
24 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren
26 - Los Angeles, CA - Palladium
27 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield
