TESTAMENT: 'Dark Roots Of Earth' Cover Artwork, Release Date, Track Listing Revealed

Nuclear Blast Records has set a July 31 North American release date (one day earlier internationally) for "Dark Roots Of Earth", the new album from San Francisco Bay Area metallers TESTAMENT. The CD was produced, mixed and mastered by acclaimed British producer Andy Sneap (ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE, ACCEPT, EXODUS). Special bonus tracks were recorded, mixed and mastered by Juan Urteaga (CATTLE DECAPITATION, HEATHEN, VILE, SADUS) at his Trident Studios. The cover artwork for the effort (see below) was painted by Eliran Kantor, who has previously worked with ATHEIST, SIGH, ANACRUSIS and GWAR, among others.

"Dark Roots Of Earth" jewel case CD track listing:

01. Rise Up
02. Native Blood
03. Dark Roots Of Earth
04. True American Hate
05. A Day In The Death
06. Cold Embrace
07. Man Kills Mankind
08. Throne Of Thorns
09. Last Stand For Independence

"Dark Roots Of Earth" CD/DVD track listing:

01. Rise Up
02. Native Blood
03. Dark Roots Of Earth
04. True American Hate
05. A Day In The Death
06. Cold Embrace
07. Man Kills Mankind
08. Throne Of Thorns
09. Last Stand For Independence

Bonus:

10. Dragon Attack (QUEEN cover)
11. Animal Magnetism (SCORPIONS cover)
12. Powerslave (IRON MAIDEN cover)
13. Throne Of Thornes (extended version)
+ Bonus DVD

"Dark Roots Of Earth" vinyl track listing:

Side A:

01. Rise Up
02. Native Blood
03. Dark Roots Of Earth

Side B:

04. True American Hate
05. A Day In The Death
06. Cold Embrace

Side C:

07. Man Kills Mankind
08. Throne Of Thorns
09. Last Stand For Independence

Side D (Bonus):

10. Dragon Attack (QUEEN cover)
11. Animal Magnetism (SCORPIONS cover)
12. Powerslave (IRON MAIDEN cover)

In a recent interview with Decibel magazine, TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy stated about "Dark Roots Of Earth", "We [recorded] it at our place in Oakland and at Trident Studios and Andy [Sneap, producer] came out and did all the recordings with us — as much as he could — and then we finished off some vocals and guitars at Trident studios. I think over the years Andy really knows the sound of this band, and kinda knows what we want. We've mixed stuff with Andy, so I think he knows without has having to be there physically with him what we are looking for. And I just haven't heard anybody in metal come out with any better mixes! Honesty!"

Regarding some of the songs that will appear on "Dark Roots Of Earth", Billy said, "Well, there's a song called 'Native Blood', which is basically a song about my Native heritage. It's almost like a protest song, that the Native Americans have a voice that needs to be heard — that's the chorus of the song. There's another called 'True American Hate', which was kinds inspired by when we sent all our troops overseas there, and we were just seeing in the news when all that was going on a lot of young kids, under 10 years old, out there with their families burning American flags. And that was a pretty shocking thing to see, to see that generation, a kid that young being taught to hate that much. It makes you think what's going to happen, 10 to 15 years from now when the majority of these kids have just been raised to hate? It struck me as a little odd. There's a song called 'Cold Embrace', which we kinda hoped we'd be able to pitch the song into one of the 'Twilight' series movies; it's a song about a girl becoming a vampire and never being able to see the sun again. 'Dark Roots Of Earth' is kind of a play on the band we have together, just like a metaphor, like TESTAMENT is a tree and all of us in this group are really embedded in the planet, in the earth, the environment and our surroundings. It was kind of a play on that. 'Rise Up' is more of a war song, like you're preparing yourself for war, going into battle. There is a lot of cool stuff there."

Due to a "serious injury," TESTAMENT drummer Paul Bostaph was unable to take part in the recording sessions for the CD and was replaced by Gene "The Atomic Clock" Hoglan (DARK ANGEL, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, FEAR FACTORY, DETHKLOK). Bostaph has since announced his departure from the group.

When asked if Hoglan — who is currently touring with TESTAMENT — will become a permanent member of the band, Billy told Horns Up Rocks!, "We'd like him to be, but I think right now we're just taking it tour by tour. We don't know yet. We just kind of unexpected had to do this tour before the record came out, so we haven't really thought about it yet."

Regarding how different it is playing with Gene compared to working with Bostaph, Chuck said, "We played with Gene before on our 'Demonic' record [1997], so we knew exactly what Gene was capable of and what he would bring to the table. We knew that it would definitely bring a different style of drumming, 'cause Gene's a different player than Paul. I think it just worked out. Eric [Peterson, TESTAMENT guitarist] had a lot of the [basic drum patterns] already done [for the new album], and Gene just had to kind of put his style on it."

Photo credit: Dean Karr

(Thanks: NJthrasher)