On the August 20 episode of ‘Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk,’ Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick shared a possible release date for their next album. Skolnick said that the album is not far from completion and the band plans to release it next year.
“Well, I think everybody knows we went through a couple different drummers the past couple years,” he mentioned the band’s drummer conflicts. “I know it’s very ‘Spinal Tap’… Life imitating art. There were scheduling conflicts with Gene Hoglan. Then we got Dave Lombardo, who was amazing, but when it came to going all in on a next record, Dave was overbooked. And we needed somebody [who could step in].”
“And we’ve got a new drummer. His name’s Chris Dovas,” he added. “He wasn’t even born when the first Testament record came out. But I’ve gotta say he is lighting fires. He’s lit a fire under everybody and just great to play with. He nails everybody’s parts from before, but he has his own style.”
“And I’m excited about the next record. It’s actually gonna come out next year. The drum tracks are done. Just rhythm guitars, bass, leads and some vocals need to be done. But it is in progress. It’ll be turned in before the end of the year, and it will be listenable next year,” the guitarist revealed the details of the album.
Before becoming a full-time member, Dovas stepped in for Lombardo on the first six dates of Testament’s summer/fall 2022 leg of ‘The Bay Strikes Back Tour.’ Last year, Dave Lombardo revealed in an interview with Blabbermouth that he would be skipping the rest of the band’s 2023 shows, and there was no guarantee he would be back with the band.
“Chris Dovas is our new drummer on board and he is lighting Eric Peterson up as far as writing, which I’m very excited about because I know we have a lot of history, a lot of music,” Testament frontman Chuck Billy said in another interview of the drummer. “It’s always tough to get creative this far in your career, but I feel that Chris has pushed Eric to that limit to really go beyond what he’s done. So there’s some really, really cool stuff on this record — modern, old school; it’s got a little of everything. So Chris is bringing a lot to the table for this record.”
Billy also revealed that the new album has ‘a little bit of everything’ and fans can expect to hear a new single by the end of this year.