TESTAMENT Guitarist On New Album: 'It's Looking Like We May Have A Winner'

San Francisco Bay Area thrashers TESTAMENT have been spending time in the studio recording their new album, "Dark Roots Of Earth", tentatively due in February 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Due to a "serious injury," regular TESTAMENT drummer Paul Bostaph was unable to take part in the recording sessions for the CD. Playing drums on the follow-up to 2008's "The Formation Of Damnation" is Gene "The Atomic Clock" Hoglan (ex-DARK ANGEL, ex-STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, FEAR FACTORY, DETHKLOK),with LAMB OF GOD's Chris Adler set to make a special guest appearance on a couple of bonus tracks.

Commented TESTAMENT guitarist Alex Skolnick: "We're more than halfway done recording the new album, 'Dark Roots of Earth'. It's coming along as well or better than any album this band has done. It just seems to have a focus, clarity and definition on a level that I don't remember at this point in the process. Of course, you can never truly sum up an album until all the tracks are recorded, the mixes are done and the entire collection is mastered. But from where things stand right now, it's looking like we may have a winner."

TESTAMENT has announced that it will again be offering special VIP/Meet-And-Greet Packs on its upcoming co-headlining tour with ANTHRAX with support from DEATH ANGEL. This is your chance to spend intimate, quality time with TESTAMENT up close and personal!

TESTAMENT offered these packs on last year's monumental "American Carnage" tour (also featuring MEGADETH and SLAYER),which presented fans with a unique and exclusive chance to spend time with the band before doors opened, take photos and get autographs, throw up the horns, and chat. This year with the VIP/Meet-And-Greet Packs, fans will have another chance to hang out, sign autographs and take photos with the band, as well as have access to a ticket to their performance, special merchandise hand-picked by the band, and a collectible TESTAMENT laminate to commemorate this ultimate fan experience!

TESTAMENT Meet-And-Greet Package includes (full details):

* One General Admission ticket
* Meet-and-greet with select members of TESTAMENT
* Photo with select members of TESTAMENT
* Autograph opportunity with select members of TESTAMENT
* TESTAMENT merchandise items*
- T-shirt of your choice from the merch booth (before doors open)
- Opportunity to purchase a second item at half off from the merch booth (before doors open)
- Assorted guitar picks
- Wristband
- Rare, out of print "Live At The Filmore" cassette
- Original printing of "Demonic" CD
* Collectible TESTAMENT laminate

For more information on how to obtain your special VIP/Meet-And-Greet Pack, head over to www.slotix.com now!

"We love connecting with our fans and showing them same the respect and admiration they show us year after year," states vocalist Chuck Billy. "Hanging out and talking to the fans was a phenomenal experience for everyone last year. It was a first for us as well as the fans. It's a great way to join us at the shows in celebration of all that is heavy metal and to make a personal connection with us, so come hang out and commemorate this great tour!"

TESTAMENT has tapped its former drummer John Tempesta (EXODUS, WHITE ZOMBIE, ROB ZOMBIE, HELMET, THE CULT) to sit behind the kit for the band's upcoming U.S. tour with ANTHRAX and DEATH ANGEL. The trek is scheduled to kick off on October 14 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Although Tempesta recorded only two studio albums with TESTAMENT (1994's "Low" and 2001's "First Strike Still Deadly", a collection of re-recordings of songs from "The Legacy" and "The New Order"),he left a lasting impression on TESTAMENT guitarist Eric Peterson. "John is definitely one of the best drummers in the country," Peterson remarked. "He has the power of John Bonham, the finesse of Carter Beauford, and the aggression of Dave Lombardo. As a drummer, John really has it all."

SADUS drummer Jon Allen sat behind the kit for TESTAMENT when the band performed in the place of IN FLAMES at the first two shows of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival on July 9 in San Bernardino, California and on July 10 in Mountain View, California as well as on the group's recently completed South American tour.