TESTAMENT's collaboration with FLOOR JANSEN is “not gonna happen”
03-06-2025
In a new interview with Andrew McKaysmith of the Scars And Guitars podcast, TESTAMENT guitarist Eric Peterson spoke about the band’s upcoming follow-up to 2020’s “Titans Of Creation” album. He said: ”I’m really excited about the new record. There’s some ‘Gathering’(-style) stuff on there, there’s some New Wave Of British Heavy Metal stuff that’s like in A that’s got that typical kind of old — I don’t wanna say SAXON, but some of those cool music that’s in A. There’s a really good ballad. There’s some really crazy black metal stuff on there, but TESTAMENT. Yeah, it’s gonna be a good one.”
Asked if it’s true that NIGHTWISH singer Floor Jansen makes a guest appearance on the new TESTAMENT album, Eric said: “No, that’s not gonna happen. It was something that was being discussed, and I think it got out there before it was agreeable. And I think she got a little upset — from what I was told. I don’t know. This is all hearsay for me. But I think it was too much. And she’s, like, ‘I didn’t even… I mean, I was talking about doing it, yeah, but I don’t…’ She would’ve been great on this song, by the way. This song would’ve been perfect for her. And then we were, like, ‘Let’s find someone else.’ And I’m, like, ‘If anybody’s gonna do it, it’s gonna be her. And if not…’ Chuck (Billy, TESTAMENT singer) sounds great on his own on it. It’s a ballad. It’s really good. It doesn’t really need another singer, but it could have been cool with Floor.”
Eric added: “I really like Floor on the live at Wacken 2013 (NIGHTWISH‘s ‘Showtime, Storytime’ Blu-ray, DVD, CD and LP), when she came into NIGHTWISH and the end of the tour, they ended it at the Wacken (Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany). That was my first introduction to her with NIGHTWISH, ’cause I followed her with the NIGHTWISH stuff, and I was, like, ‘I like NIGHTWISH.’ But when I watched that show, man, she just killed it on those songs. It’s just, like, hair on your arm standing up, like, ‘Wow.'”
Last November, Billy told Australia’s Jaimunji about the TESTAMENT song which was supposed to be a duet with Jansen: “Yeah, I reached out to her. Me and Floor became friends maybe under 10 years ago. Me and her, Joey Belladonna (ANTHRAX), Udo Dirkschneider (ex-ACCEPT), we all did this Christmas performance show through Europe. And we were singing our songs, but with a Christmas theme with an orchestra. And so we all traveled together and became friends. And she’s a powerhouse of a vocalist. Great voice. And when we wrote the song and the lyrics, first thing I thought was, ‘Okay, this song, it, it needs a strong girl’s voice,’ and, of course, Floor is the first one that came to mind.”
He continued at the time: “This song, it’s gonna be pretty epic. We’re gonna put a string section on it, acoustic guitars. It’s gonna have a lot going on, but it’s a really, really beautiful song. It’s really deep. And with Floor, it’s kind of me and her kind of singing the lyrics kind of to each other, and the meaning of the song and what we’re saying, it’s kind of, like, I’ll say my part and she’s answering me through the vocal. So it’s gonna be very strong, very cool. And I can’t wait to hear what she’s gonna do on it… We haven’t sent it to her because we haven’t laid down the acoustic guitars yet for it, but the song’s done. I tracked it all. I tracked her parts. And I wanna wait till she hears it for the first time with the acoustics and get the vibe — I want her to be in the vibe once she gets it… And Alex (Skolnick, TESTAMENT guitarist) has a connection to some guys that are gonna do the strings on it, who played on some huge records, so what we’ve heard so far, it’s pretty cool.”
Earlier this year TESTAMENT announced they will return to Europe this fall for a full-fledged co-headline tour, dubbed “Thrash Of The Titans”, with Florida death metal trailblazers OBITUARY.
After an extensive 2024 summer festival run and a highly successful tour supporting their peers KREATOR and ANTHRAX at the end of last year, this October will see the mighty TESTAMENT lay waste to some of Europe’s most renowned venues. Rounding off this killer tour will be none other than German thrash metal pioneers DESTRUCTION and black/death metal juggernaut GOATWHORE from New Orleans.
TESTAMENT‘s Eric Peterson (guitar) commented: “All right! We are super excited to announce the beginning of our ‘Thrash Of The Titans’ campaign event! Coming to Europe this October with co-headliners OBITUARY and very special guests DESTRUCTION and GOATWHORE!
“We will have a special deep-cut set along with classics and, of course, some new songs!
“OBITUARY will be doing a special set as well doing their classic ‘Cause Of Death’ material and DESTRUCTION also will have new record out as well!
“Looking forward to see you all again out there!
“Long live thrash! Long live metal!”
Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, April 30 at 10 a.m. CET.
TESTAMENT and OBITUARY with special guests DESTRUCTION and GOATWHORE tour dates:
Oct. 05 – DE – Hannover @ Capitol
Oct. 07 – UK – Bristol @ Beacon
Oct. 08 – UK – Birmingham @ O2 Academy Birmingham
Oct. 09 – IE – Dublin @ Olympia Theatre
Oct. 10 – UK – Manchester @ Manchester Academy
Oct. 11 – UK – London @ O2 Forum Kentish Town
Oct. 12 – BE – Antwerp @ Trix
Oct. 13 – DE – Stuttgart @ LKA Longhorn
Oct. 14 – DE – Hamburg @ Große Freiheit 36
Oct. 16 – CH – Pratteln @ Z7 Konzertfabrik
Oct. 17 – DE – Wiesbaden @ Schlachthof
Oct. 18 – IT – Milan @ Live Club
Oct. 19 – DE – Saarbruecken @ Garage
Oct. 21 – SI – Ljubljana @ Media Center
Oct. 22 – AT – Vienna @ Arena
Oct. 23 – PL – Wroclaw @ A2
Oct. 24 – DE – Munich @ TonHalle
Oct. 25 – DE – Oberhausen @ Turbinenhalle
Oct. 26 – NL – Utrecht @ Tivoli Vredenburg – Ronda
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