Vocalist Chuck Billy of San Francisco Bay Area metallers TESTAMENT has confirmed that the band's forthcoming eleventh studio album will "definitely" be titled "The Brotherhood Of The Snake". Speaking to TheNationalStudent about the lyrical themes covered on TESTAMENT's follow-up to 2012's "Dark Roots Of Earth", Chuck said: "'The Brotherhood Of The Snake' was actually a society about six thousand years ago that debarred all religions. It was just a fascinating topic that caught our eye and attention and spawned a lot of songs. We're going with that vibe." He continued: "There will be some songs that deviate, but the majority will be around that and aliens and religion. Then I'll probably tap into my native heritage and write some songs about that. It's not just going to be one concept, but there is some interesting stuff that we're finding to write about." Billy added that most difficult part of making new albums for a band like TESTAMENT "is that we don't live near to each other. We're not like a normal band where we're, like, 'Oh, we'll see you at the studio, we're jamming tomorrow." Alex [Skolnick, lead guitarist] lives in New York, Eric [Peterson, rhythm guitarist] lives in San Diego, and me and Steve [DiGiorgio, bassist] are the only ones that still live in the Bay Area. So when it's time to rehearse or go on tour, they bring everybody in together to practice. It's not the easiest way to write when we're going through that stage. It's, like, 'We're writing. Okay, everyone send in stuff through e-mail.' That's the hardest part of it, but I think it keeps us focused on the song a little more, so it has its ups and downs. I still like getting together and kicking around thoughts in the studio with the band." Peterson recently told Metalholic.com that the song "The Brotherhood Of The Snake" will feature "the fastest blast" TESTAMENT drummer Gene Hoglan has ever played, a sentiment that was echoed by Billy. "It is definitely some fast blast beats going on in there," Chuck said. "That's definitely a standout [song], but a lot of this record, the new record, is definitely gonna be geared up to a little more faster than 'Dark Roots Of Earth' record, definitely a little more aggressive musically, for sure, probably vocally as well. I think I'll probably attack with a little more heavier voice on this one. I'll kind of feel my way through the song, which voice to use. But there's definitely gonna be some 'Demonic' [-type] stuff, but again like 'The Gathering', 'cause I think I did a little bit of everything on that record, which that's what we'd like to accomplish." TESTAMENT's U.S. tour with SLAYER and CARCASS kicked off on February 19 in Chicago, Illinois and ended on March 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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