In case you didn't know, TESTAMENT will be releasing a NEW album entitled 'Dark Roots of Earth' on July 27, 2012 (Europe) and July 31, 2012 (North America) via Nuclear Blast Records. The album was produced, mixed and mastered once again by the world renowned 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 highly anticipated follow up to their 2008 release 'The Formation of Damnation' will be released.Recently, the great folks over at Metal Assault conducted an interview with Eric Peterson (guitarist). During the interview, Peterson discussed the bands NEW album 'Dark Roots Of Earth' and the bands current drummer situation. A few excerpts of the interview follow:
Metal Assault: At the time of this interview, I haven't been given access to the album, so I have to ask you this. How does it compare to the previous one in terms of the overall sound?
Eric: It's in the same vein, definitely. But if I have to compare it to any records, it would be a hybrid of "The Gathering" and "The Ritual". What I mean by that is, musically it's heavy like "The Gathering". It's really riff-heavy, it's got a lot of melody to it, and it has the fast brutal stuff. Then it's also got the slow heavy stuff. But vocally, and in terms of the way the songs are arranged, it's like "The Ritual". This record is a lot more melodic than anything we've done. "The Ritual" was like an easy-listening kind of TESTAMENT record, but super melodic. We had "Return To Serenity", "Electric Crown" and some really good songwriting, but the drums were kind of … too easy, you know. There were some really good songs on there, but it lacked the heaviness of "The Gathering". So, I think with those two ideas put together, the most melodic and the heaviest side of TESTAMENT mixed all together, you have "Dark Roots Of Earth".
Metal Assault: You talked about the drumming. Do you think Gene Hoglan's return, at least for this record, helped you in that aspect?
Eric : Definitely. The songs were all written before Gene came in, and the beats were kind of were what they were already. But Gene came in and just played them better than they were anticipated. Like I said, you can have songs written and the beats all programmed or whatever, and the ideas are there, but it depends on what drummer is going to play them. Like for example, the song "Native Blood" is a catchy, melodic song, but it's got a blast beat in the chorus. So it depends on who's going to do that blast beat. It just happens to be Gene Hoglan doing it, so it's going to sound pretty authentic and pretty brutal.
Metal Assault: Now this is something pretty much all fans want to know. What's your permanent drummer situation? I know Gene's been touring with you on this run with ANTHRAX, but what's going to happen after that?
Eric: We're trying to make it such that Gene can stay with the band, and I think Gene wants to stay with TESTAMENT, but he's got other things he's doing. Just like Alex, who's doing his jazz stuff and we try to work out scheduling, and I'm also starting DRAGONLORD again. A new album is being recorded right now and it's going to come out soon. So we all have different stuff that we're trying to do, but when it comes to TESTAMENT, when we schedule stuff we all have to stick to the plan. So that's kind of what we're aiming for, to make a schedule that'll work for everybody. We do have the first tour in Europe for three weeks in August, and Gene is not going to be available for that. So that's where we kind of learned our lesson. The communication between the management wasn't spot on, and it kind of got messed up. Gene signed on for our Europe tour, but then he wasn't aware that DETHKLOK was starting earlier or later, or whatever it was. So from now on we're really trying to nip it in the bud. That's out plan, at least. Drummers in TESTAMENT have always been a curse, but they've also always been a blessing [laughs], because the records are coming out better. For me, getting to write with a Dave Lombardo or with John Tempesta or Paul Bostaph, and now me jamming with Hoglan again, it really has inspired me with the music that I've written. Once I found out that I was going to get Gene, I really honed in on everything I wrote and went, "OK, I can actually get super fast double bass here on this part." When I wrote with Paul, I was thinking of doing something here and there, but then I would think, "Oh, he doesn't like to play that kind of beat. So I won't do that." So I was kind of compromising on stuff, but with Gene, there was no compromise. I just did everything that I wanted to do.
Click here to read to read the entire interview!
- 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)
Related links:
No comments:
Post a Comment