JEFF BECERRA: Next POSSESSED Album Will Be One Of The Band's 'Darkest'

In a new interview with Alex Stojanovic of MetalMasterKingdom.com, POSSESSED frontman Jeff Becerra spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2019's "Revelations Of Oblivion" LP. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I have like two songs left [to finish]… It sounds very different, very cool, very heavy. But a lot more tempo switching. And it's cool.

"POSSESSED will never sell out," he continued. "I'd rather die. But it's still very, very heavy. It's probably gonna be one of our darkest albums. And also something that you don't have to grit your teeth to get through the whole thing."

Jeff also talked about the POSSESSED songwriting process, saying: "We all write. I think I wrote 63 or 64 percent of the last album, so 50 percent and that extra music. 50 percent would be lyrics, if we're doing it at 100. Even though it's not really broken down that way, it's easier to explain that way. So I'll write riffs, definitely, I'll send them to Dan [guitarist Daniel Gonzalez]. Me and Dan are kind of the main guys, but more and more, on this one you're seeing Claudeous [Creamer, POSSESSED guitarist] and Robert [Cardenas, POSSESSED bassist] coming out and showing off the riffs.

"This [version of] POSSESSED has been around more than three times as long as the first one, so, yeah, we work well together," he explained. "And they're not afraid to say, 'Hey, no, this is not good' to me and vice versa. But we're looking for what's good or what is mendable or what is perfect as is. And so I think we're all super picky about what we do."

As for a possible released date for the next POSSESSED album, Jeff said: "Well, POSSESSED is definitely not one of those bands that just puts out album after album. That's why I don't think we're label darlings. But I want to put this one out as soon as possible, definitely within the next year — that's very conservative; should be sooner — and then immediately keep writing the third one 'Cause we have three on this contract [with record label Nuclear Blast], and then we either re-up or whatever. But Nuclear Blast has been really kind and understanding with health and touring. They help with everything. They're really, really gracious."

This past June, Becerra was asked by El Planeta Del Rock how he looks back on "Revelations Of Oblivion" five years after the LP's release. Jeff said: "I really liked it. It's weird. When you make new music, you're like, 'Oh, this song's gonna go over like gangbusters,' but then it's always the songs that you didn't expect [that] statistically do better. So I've lost track of trying to pay attention or trying to guide the machine. I'm just playing what I want, and I think with 'Revelations', I had to kind of stay in my own lane, which was great. It was straight-forward."

POSSESSED originally split in 1987, leaving behind a short but highly influential legacy, most notably 1985's "Seven Churches" album. Internal tensions after the release of 1987's "The Eyes Of Horror" EP led to the band's dissolution, with guitarist Larry Lalonde joining Bay Area tech-thrashers BLIND ILLUSION, then PRIMUS, while Becerra, guitarist Mike Torrao and drummer Mike Sus each going separate directions.

Two years after POSSESSED's split, Becerra was the victim of a failed armed robbery attempt, leaving him partially paralyzed and wheelchair-bound and sending him into a spiral of drug and alcohol abuse. POSSESSED was reactivated by Torrao in 1990 with a completely different lineup, but only released two demos before dissolving in 1993. Becerra then reformed POSSESSED ielations Of Oblivion".