TESTAMENT and former TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA guitarist Alex Skolnick has written his latest Skolnotes blog, Metal Philosophy; an excerpt follows:

"As dissonant guitar riffs meld with the weapon-wielding warriors on cable news channels, the (new BLACK SABBATH) song ('God Is Dead?') wipes away certain thoughts about Sabbath that most fans would prefer to forget - the band's recent falling out with original drummer Bill Ward, a slew of mediocre albums with forgettable line-ups in the late 80s and, in the early 00s, the agony of watching lead vocalist Ozzy Osbourne morph into mainstream America's media darling; a fidgety, Prozac-induced, reality TV star for the sole purpose of prime-time amusement.

The new track serves as a reminder that several decades ago, it was this first incarnation of Black Sabbath that launched heavy metal (and conversely, all its future sub-genres) with a purpose beyond that of entertainment: to shine a light on the grittier aspects of our modern world, exposing an underbelly of truths that are often kept hidden.

The dark spirit that Sabbath conjured from the late 60s to the 70s has been channeled into 2013, brought forth as if from Aladdin's lamp. And who better to join forces with than Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher of the 19th century?

Nietzsche is someone I've often wished I'd known about while growing up. With an emphasis on individualism, a lambasting of group mentality and his warnings about following any movement blindly - religious, societal and otherwise - Nietzsche's ideas are essential to anyone who has ever felt like an independent thinker surrounded by automatic, sheep-like human behavior. Even if you don't know Nietzsche's work, you've probably heard variations of some of his words, such as "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger."

The title of the new Sabbath single comes from another famous phrase by Nietzsche: 'God is Dead.' This phrase may be disconcerting to many today (imagine the impact it must have had in the 1880s), but it is not necessarily an assault on those seeking spiritual comfort. Rather it is open to various interpretations, such as the over-reliance on organized religion and the need to questioning authority, especially when faith-based. Which brings us back to recent events in Boston.

How can one not at least partially question faith in this day and age? If God exists in a traditional sense, how could He allow something like the Boston Marathon bombing to happen, not to mention similar events that take place beyond our own borders with far more frequency? And weren't the youths who caused this motivated by some bastardized version of faith?

Keep in mind that these are just philosophical questions, not declarations. If one never questions, one merely follows."

To read Skolnick's blog in its entirety, click here.