As one of the opening bands on Slayer’s farewell American tour, as well as other tour dates worldwide, Testament has had a busy year in 2018 so far. In a new interview with singer Chuck Billy on the Full Metal Jackie show, Billy revealed the band is starting to put together the framework for their new album, due out in 2019. The new album will be the follow-up to 2016’s excellent Brotherhood Of The Snake (Nuclear Blast).

Billy commented:

“The plan is to get a lot of riffs and stuff going out here on [the second leg of TESTAMENT’s] tour [with SLAYER], ’cause we do have a lot of time on our hands. So by the time we finish this, we’ll go home and me and Eric [Peterson, guitar] will really get together and really try to chop out a bunch of music, ’cause the goal is to get in the studio hopefully by January and have a record out hopefully by April. That’s the goal.”

“We talk about that (making new albums every year potentially), ’cause in our early years, when we first came out, we did five records in a row, year after year. And I think about it — back [then], we wrote a record and toured, [went] right back in the studio, wrote a record, toured; there was no time off. But you had a lot of momentum going. So, you’ve gotta think of that — you don’t want to lose the momentum when you’ve got something going. So, it’s a tough balance. But if you’re prepared, we go for it.”

“Well, we don’t know yet, but I know on ‘Brotherhood’, I definitely ventured out and kind of went to secret societies and alien creating mankind. And it was really cool — a lot of that stuff I researched. So, I don’t know. I still maybe might lean a little towards that. I’m still intrigued with that; it still fascinates me. When it comes time to write, I really write off whatever Eric gives me; the vibe of the song has a feel of the title and the whole thing for me has to come together in that.”

“I think the pressure is good. Since [1999’s] ‘The Gathering’, I think we’ve been kind of picking up momentum and honing in our technique and what TESTAMENT is, and especially trying to sound more current than established back in the ’80s or whatever. I think now it’s definitely different.”