Legendary bay area thrash metal giants, Testament, will release their 12th album, The Brotherhood Of The Snake, on October 28th via Nuclear Blast. KaaosTV caught up with guitarist Eric Peterson at at Tuska Open Air in Helsinki, Finland on July 1st, and he talked about the new album and more.

About the new album, Eric says, “It’s done. It’s 99.9% done. I still have two solos to do when I get home, which is gonna happen tomorrow. But it’s being mixed right now. So, like I said, it’s 99.9% done as far as recording. Right now we’re in the stage of mixing it, so we’re trying to find the right sound. We’re working with Andy Sneap again. Andy always gets a great sound right away. The only difference on this one is, we’re trying to be a little bit more organic, and getting away from Andy’s perfection sound, and get more of a looser… you know, still keeping the slickness of it, but trying to get a little bit more raw.”

Watch the clip below:

The Brotherhood Of The Snake was recorded under the watchful eyes of producer Juan Urteaga (Exodus, Machine Head), guitarist Eric Peterson and singer Chuck Billy and is currently being mixed and mastered by well-known metal producer Andy Sneap (Accept, Megadeth).

Commented Peterson in another interview: "It's very diverse, but it's very epic. There's nothing on there that breeds commercial. And I think for thirty years of recording music and trying different formulas and stuff, I think we've found a formula that is very metal. I think for the metal fan that is looking for something for the nook and crannies… not just your normal, 'Oh, it's got a thrash beat and a riff.' There's a lot going on here."

In another interview, the songwriter stated: "It's different. This one is more thrash. I mean, this has got some of the fastest stuff that we have ever played. Usually, we have one or two thrash songs, and then we have some mid-tempo, and then we have a slow, heavy one, and then up-tempo kind of stuff. Half of the new record is thrash, which we've never done before."

He continued: "It's kind of like Demonic and The Gathering, but a little bit wiser, I think. Chuck's not singing so death. I mean, he does some death stuff but he's singing more like he did on the last record and then with the craziness of The Gathering or even heavy stuff like Demonic."

Testament will support The Brotherhood Of The Snake on their European run with Amon Amarth this fall. Dates to be announced soon. The band will embark on their summer festival run next week including some chosen club shows beginning July 13th in Hungary.

Live dates:

July
14 - Vizovice, Czech Republic - Masters Of Rock
15 - Balingen, Germany - Bang Your Head!!! Festival
16 - Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany - Dong Open Air
19 - Moscow, Russia - Yotaspace
20 - St. Petersburg, Russia - Aurora Concert Hall
22 - Herford, Germany - X (with Rage)
23 - Jena, Germany - F-Haus
25 - Tolmin, Slovenia - Metaldays
28 - Rome, Italy - Eutropia Fest
29 - Cascina, Italy - The Jungle
30 - Milan, Italy - Circolo Magnolia
31 - Albi, France - Xtreme Fest

August
3 - Aschaffenburg, Germany - Colo Saal
4 - Rijssen, Netherlands - Lucky & Co
5 - Wacken, Germany - Wacken Open Air
18 - Dinkelsbühl, Germany - Summer Breeze
19 - Hamburg, Germany - Elb-Riot
20 - Saarbrücken, Germany - Garage
21 - Saint-Nolff, France - Motocultor Fest
27 - Istanbul, Turkey - 100% Metal Fest Headbangers

(Photo - Stephanie Cabral)