Testament stall on album release plans

Testament’s new album will not be released until the end of the year at the earliest, mainman Chuck Billy has confirmed.

He previously said the follow-up to 2012’s Dark Roots Of Earth would be released in March, but in a new interview he says only “five or six” songs are at the demo stage and that studio work has yet to begin on the final versions.

Billy tells The Age Of Metal (via Blabbermouth): “We have five or six songs demoed. There’s still probably a lot of tweaking on it. But, hopefully, within the next couple of months, being on the road, we can get some time to mess with some stuff.

“I can’t set a date. But at this point in time in our careers, when it’s ready, it’s ready. We’re the ones that have to live with it for the rest of our life and tour on it. So we want to make sure it’s ready. And we’re fortunate to have Nuclear Blast supporting us and not sweating us on it.

“I hope towards the end of the year, it’s done and finished.”

The frontman says he and guitarist Eric Peterson are still writing for what will be their 11th album.

He adds: “We’re just getting as many songs of me and Eric working together, demoing. So it’s advanced but it’s early, at least with the rest of the guys because me and Eric are doing all the writing and demoing.”

The band last year split with bassist Greg Christian and replaced him with Steve DiGiorgio. Christian later hit out at the band, describing their treatment of him as “cruel.”

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