In a new interview with Nothing Shocking podcast, Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick talked about how the band’s new album recording is coming along. Skolnick mentioned that the album is not far from completion and the band is planning to release it next year:
“The process has started. It actually started last year. Eric Peterson and I — he’s the band’s founder and the other guitarist — we started exchanging ideas and working on music last year. And then normally, he and I will get together. He’ll work with the drummer. We have this new drummer, Chris Dovas, who’s in his mid-20s and just sounds amazing. He’s the right age — the age you should be to play drums in this type of music. And it’s a lot of fun working with him.”
The guitarist explained what point they were at with the album now:
“So we’re at the point now where drums have been recorded, some guitar parts have been recorded. We’re working on vocal ideas. And it’s definitely — I wouldn’t say it’s in the homestretch yet, but I’d say we’re over the hump and more than halfway there. And it should be wrapped up shortly, I would guess by the fall or at the end of the year at the latest. And then it’s definitely coming out next year.”
Chuck Billy’s Words On The New Album
The band’s singer Chuck Billy shared some information about the album earlier.
He said during an interview last month:
“We’ve took off from November last year to write the record. It took a while. We just got in the studio in May and June. So we’re finishing up. And right now, once we leave [for tour] in July, we won’t really have time until December, which is a good thing. We’ll be busy, but we’ll have like a week or two between tours to do any extra overdubs or anything. We’re gonna live with the record, which is really the first time we get to do this, because usually we’ll record it and it’s written in stone where now we know…”
The frontman also revealed that their next album will probably have 11 tracks and ‘some covers.’
The Musical Approach
In an earlier interview, Billy discussed the band’s musical direction for the upcoming album. Apparently, this album will be more ‘aggressive’ than the rest. He said:
“The record is very aggressive. With this one, we have a new drummer, Chris Dovas, who’s really putting a fire under Eric and really, really got some really heavy, fast — I don’t know if it’s the word ‘modern’, maybe. I don’t know, but… ‘Current’, how about that? Current-sounding. So, Chris is adding to that.
Testament released their most recent album in 2020 with the title ‘Titans Of Creation.’
You can hear the interview down below.