In a recent interview with Australia's The Underground, frontman Chuck Billy of San Francisco Bay Area metallers TESTAMENT discussed the songwriting process for the band's forthcoming "Titans Of Creation" studio album. The LP — the band's 12th overall — marks the second consecutive TESTAMENT studio effort to feature the same lineup of Billy, Eric Peterson (guitar), Alex Skolnick (lead guitar), Steve DiGiorgio (bass) and Gene Hoglan (drums). TESTAMENT has not had the same lineup perform on consecutive studio albums since the dissolution of their classic lineup after the release of 1992's "The Ritual".
"I have to say we're very proud of it, first of all, but the writing process was much easier on this one than the last record [2016's 'Brotherhood Of The Snake']," Chuck said (hear audio below). "I think everybody's involvement was a little more involved on this record. Alex had a few more songs he wrote on this record. Gene was in on when Eric was working on the riffs. So, I think a little more of this record, everyone got involved, but I believed by doing that, the songs are really strong. They all have their own identity. You hear a TESTAMENT record, you know none of them really sound the same. They all have their own identity and feeling. This one does especially again, but I think, I don't know why, maybe because it's new and fresh, it feels like this might be some of our best work we've done."
In a 2016 interview with Metal Wani prior to the release of "Brotherhood Of The Snake", Billy said Skolnick didn't contribute any songs to the album due to his obligations with his all-star METAL ALLEGIANCE project. Billy also said that Skolnick, DiGiorgio and Hoglan didn't hear any of the songs prior to entering the studio, admitting that it was a "scary feeling."
"Titans Of Creation" will be released on April 3 via Nuclear Blast. The album was produced by Billy and Peterson while Juan Urteaga of Trident Studios handled co-producing, recording and engineering. Andy Sneap was responsible for the mixing and mastering of the album. Eliran Kantor stepped up once again to create a new masterpiece of artwork for the cover of this release.
