Testament frontman Chuck Billy says he felt nervous when band were recording Brotherhood Of The Snake as he was feeling pressure to better 2012’s Dark Roots Of Earth.
And Billy says the urgency to lay down the tracks left him worried about how it would all turn out.
Billy tells Metal Wani: “You always want to top your last record – you always want the production to be better than your last record. We were a little nervous because we had been working so long on the record. We went into the studio, I would say, almost unprepared. It was the first time that we did it like that.
“There was so much time going by trying to get songs completed that just weren’t complete, it just angered and frustrated everybody. When we went into the studio, drummer Gene Hoglan, guitarist Alex Skolnick and bassist Steve DiGiorgio hadn’t even heard any of the songs.
“So that was kind of a scary feeling, like, ‘Are we getting in before we really should be?’ And, ‘Is it going to be a waste of time and we record what we have and it doesn’t work out and it flops?’ All those thoughts go through your mind.”
Billy says it got to the point where they had to lay down the tracks quickly if they hoped to launch the album this year.
He adds: “We booked the time, and I think everybody stepped up from the pressure of not knowing the songs, the pressures of topping your last record.
“Maybe everybody reached down deep in the creativity and playing and just did a monster of a job – each musician in what they did and contributed to the record.
“We’re very proud now, sitting back and now that it’s finally finished, we’re feeling that it’s one of the strongest records we’ve done to date.”
Brotherhood Of The Snake will be released on October 28 and Testament will tour the UK and Ireland in the days following its launch.
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Testament tour dates 2016
Oct 31: Manchester Academy, UK
Nov 01: Glasgow O2 ABC, UK
Nov 02: Dublin Vicar Street, UK
Nov 04: London Roundhouse, UK
Nov 05: Birmingham O2 Academy, UK
