Chuck Billy, frontman for Bay Area bashers TESTAMENT, is featured in a new interview with The Raffo Review discussing the band's new album, Dark Roots Of Earth. An excerpt is available below:

Q: What can we expect from the new album?

Billy. "I would say it’s got a little bit of everything we’ve done in our history but I would say, vocally I’m tending to kind of go back to the Practice What You Preach style. I’ve done a lot more melodies on this record as well. Of course theirs some thrash and power vocals as Testament would do, but I think this records got a little bit of an old school feel to it, for me at least. The songs of course aren’t old school thrash but their are still elements of that old thrash. We’ve got some more modern elements on the record as well with the blast beats and just some good ol’ groovy, heavy stuff. It’s got a little bit of everything really and now that it’s done, I think it’s a really well rounded record."

Q: Would you say the new record is a combination of old school Testament and modern Testament?

Billy: "Well yeah, the production on early Testament records absolutely sucked and I never thought they sounded good. Now 25 years later we’re doing our own records and mixing them and stuff. When you listen to that old stuff it’s just 'ugh.' I would say, with our writing style and we’re we are as a band and friends, it’s definitely like the old school. When I got sick back in 2001 I didn’t think I was ever going to be back, performing with Testament. That illness kind of got all the original guys back together. It was a special thing for me because I felt as though one, I’m getting a second chance to perform with Testament and two, the original lineup was back together! We never really had bad feelings towards each other when the band split up and we never really talked about getting back together, it sort of all just happened. Maybe the illness made it happen, but here we are now and we’re not really thinking about it, we’re just doing what we love to do and we all feel kind of blessed to be able to finish something that we started together."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

'Native Blood', the new single from Testament, is available now as digital download as well as on limited 7“ vinyl in various colours. The single exclusively contains the Spanish sung version of the song as a B-Side. Get 'Native Blood' vinyl here and the digital version via Amazon below:

Complete audio samples from Testament's new album, Dark Roots Of Earth, can be heard at this location. The follow-up to 2008's The Formation Of Damnation will be released by Nuclear Blast on July 27th in Europe and on July 31st in North America.

Dark Roots Of Earth will be issued in Europe as a regular CD, CD digi + DVD, CD box set, double vinyl and double picture disc vinyl. Special bonus tracks were recorded, mixed and mastered by Juan Urteaga (HEATHEN, VILE, SADUS) at his Trident Studios.

Eliran Kantor, who has previously worked with ATHEIST, SIGH, ANACRUSIS and GWAR, among others, provided the cover artwork.

CD tracklisting:

'Rise Up'

'Native Blood'

'Dark Roots Of Earth'

'True American Hate'

'A Day In The Death'

'Cold Embrace'

'Man Kills Mankind'

'Throne Of Thorns'

'Last Stand For Independence'

CD/DVD tracklisting:

'Rise Up'

'Native Blood'

'Dark Roots Of Earth'

'True American Hate'

'A Day In The Death'

'Cold Embrace'

'Man Kills Mankind'

'Throne Of Thorns'

'Last Stand For Independence'

Bonus:

'Dragon Attack' (QUEEN cover)

'Animal Magnetism' (SCORPIONS cover)

'Powerslave' (IRON MAIDEN cover)

'Throne Of Thornes (extended version)

Plus Bonus DVD

Vinyl tracklisting:

Side A:

'Rise Up'

'Native Blood'

'Dark Roots Of Earth'

Side B:

'True American Hate'

'A Day In The Death'

'Cold Embrace'

Side C:

'Man Kills Mankind'

'Throne Of Thorns'

'Last Stand For Independence'

Side D (Bonus):

'Dragon Attack' (Queen cover)

'Animal Magnetism' (Scorpions cover)

'Powerslave' (Iron Maiden cover)

The lyric video for 'True American Hate' and audio samples of 'Rise Up', the title track 'Dark Roots Of Earth' and 'A Day In The Death' can be heard below: