TESTAMENT Members Comment On NUCLEAR BLAST Deal

TESTAMENT members Chuck Billy (vocals) and Eric Peterson (guitar) have commented on their new deal with Nuclear Blast Records.

"We are very happy that we are signed to one of the best metal labels in the world. It's a great feeling that we are in a house that will not crumble," said Billy.

"This is going to be our best record to date, and it will be the essence of what TESTAMENT is," added Peterson. "Nuclear Blast is the perfect label for us. They eat, breathe and sleep metal. I am excited also because a lot of my favorite bands are on Nuclear Blast, giving us the opportunity to be labelmates with them. Finally we are coming home!"

The group will enter the studio late summer/early fall to record its long-awaited new album for a March 2008 release.

Original TESTAMENT members Alex Skolnick (guitar),Billy, Greg Christian (bass),and Peterson, along with new drummer Nick Barker (ex-DIMMU BORGIR, CRADLE OF FILTH),have finished writing more eight or nine songs for the group's long-awaited follow-up to 1999's "The Gathering".

In a recent interview with RockConfidential.com, Billy stated about the new TESTAMENT material, "The music is very heavy but it's very catchy. Eric's got some really catchy riffs. The vocals are real melodic with some catchy hooks. It's really heavy. It's something new. Nick, coming from a black metal background, is adding that spark that we needed. It's a fresh breath of life to our writing. In the past couple of years we've written some songs but they weren't up to par with 'The Gathering'. Those songs just went in the trash. We just started over when Nick came into the picture. We're on a roll and the songs are turning out really good. . . [Lyrically] it's gonna be covering a lot of stuff, things we've experienced in life. Especially my illness, the cancer, and what I went through. I had some healing sessions and did a lot of sweat lodges with some indians and medicine men. I'm sure I'll be talking about my experiences with the medicine men. My father and Eric's father both passed away within the past couple of years. The war in Iraq. We'll be talking about those issues. It's things that people deal with in everyday life. We've gone away from the cliche gloom-and-doom lyrics, the typical heavy metal lyrics."

TESTAMENT parted ways with Spitfire Records earlier in the year (the Spitfire Records catalog was acquired last summer by Redux Records, the company formerly known as Sheridan Square Entertainment).

Spitfire released a TESTAMENT compilation, "The Spitfire Collection", in February. Consisting of tracks from such Spitfire titles as "The Gathering", "Demonic", "Live at the Fillmore", "First Strike Still Deadly" and "Live in London", the 14-track set chronicles an era that ultimately saw the original TESTAMENT reunite for a successful 2005 tour.