TESTAMENT to finish mixing new album this week
06-06-2025
In a new interview with the Land Of Music Podcast, guitarist Eric Peterson of San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans TESTAMENT confirmed that he and his bandmates have tapped Swedish producer Jens Bogren, who has previously worked with OPETH, KREATOR, PARADISE LOST, SOILWORK and AMON AMARTH, among others, to mix their upcoming studio album. The LP will mark TESTAMENT‘s follow-up to 2020’s “Titans Of Creation”, which was co-produced by Juan Urteaga, who previously worked with TESTAMENT on “Dark Roots Of Earth” (2012) and “Brotherhood Of The Snake” (2016).
Regarding the progress of the mixing sessions for TESTAMENT‘s new LP, Peterson said: “I actually start mixing tomorrow until the end of the week with Jens Bogren. We have our new ballad and about three other songs that we started mixing, but we dropped off because the vocals weren’t done yet. So we’ve got, like, a week to finish it to turn everything in. So that’s what we’re doing. Yeah, we’re about 70, 80 percent done. So by next Friday we’ll be ‘done done,’ and then we’re turning in the record.”
When Bogren‘s name was first publicly floated last September in connection with TESTAMENT‘s upcoming album, Peterson told Brutal Planet Magazine. “Jens is a producer from Sweden, and he’s done — God, he’s done KREATOR, he’s doing the new BEHEMOTH, he’s done IN FLAMES, ARCH ENEMY. A lot of European bands. We usually work with Andy Sneap, but he’s the touring guitarist in JUDAS PRIEST and he’s just, like, ‘Bro, I need some time off.’ It’s a good switch, though. I think Jens will do a good job. And yeah, there’s a lot of crazy stuff on this record. I’m excited for everybody to hear it.”
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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