The release for thrash icons Testament's 13th studio album Titans of Creation is anything but lucky.
From a European trek marred by a near-disastrous ferry incident, to cancellations and an inevitable COVID-19 diagnosis for numerous members of the tour-package, and you can say that 2020 has so-far been fairly forgettable for Chuck Billy and co.
But the silver-lining on an otherwise terrible sequence of events is Titans of Creation, an epic followup to the groups blistering 12th record Brotherhood of the Snake, which dropped April 3rd through Nuclear Blast Records.
Chuck Billy caught up with Metal Injection to talk the groups' ill-fated The Bay Strikes Back takeover of Europe, battling Coronavirus with his wife, the genre-bending and thematically diverse new album, his all-time seminal metal record and much more!
On Contracting COVID-19
We were on tour in Europe and had our first show in Milan canceled, which was kind of the start of it. And then we'd just kind of watch things progress, wondering how is it going to be trying to get back to the U.S.? Fortunately, the tour ended on the 11th, which was supposed to be the last show, and we had tickets to fly home on he 12th. We watched things escalate. More people being recommended not to have gatherings over a certain amount of people.
As we got to the end of the tour, in Germany, the final show was canceled. So we were flying home on the 12th. We woke up that morning and we got the first flight out at like 6:00 a.m.. The driver was telling us that Trump had banned travel, starting on Friday the 13th. But we all felt fine at this point. We got on a plane back home and once we landed, I think my wife was the first one feeling bad on that Friday, and by Saturday I was feeling bad. We were kind of group texting each other and more of us had the same symptoms.
We kept in touch with each other, seeing how people are feeling. We were trying to be proactive when we got home. First they said if you aren't showing symptoms then we don't want to test you. But here's what we did, we were traveling every day, different countries, thousands of people. Chances are we could have been put in contact with somebody. So by Sunday we were feeling pretty down, so we called the doctor and they had us come in for testing. And then it was just kind of the waiting game. It was seven or eight days before we found anything, and they didn't give us any medication so we just kind of had to ride it out. We started feeling better at about day twelve or so. I'm feeling a little bit better and slowly getting better every day. I wouldn't say we're cured of it, but we're feeling much better.
On Completing the European Tour/Cancelled Album-Release Plans
Thank God the timing worked out for us (to finish the tour and get home). But of course with the brand new record coming out there were all these plans and marketing at play and tours lined up to promote the record. You kind of had the rugged pulled out from under your feet. It's a hard pill to swallow, but you kind of have to roll with the punches and hunker down and try to find out what we're going to do in the meantime? There's now online things to do and ways to generate income.
Something hasn't happened like this in our lifetime. It's almost like the world is standing still. It feels like that. Everything is on freeze, you know? You go to the supermarket and everyone is going crazy buying everything they can. No toilet paper on the shelves.
I mean, I think right now the timing is kind of weird for us just based on no record space in stores anymore. Record sales and physical sales have definitely shown a decrease over the years. Everything being online, maybe there's an advantage to that now? Peope want to stop and listen to new things, watch new things. People asked us if we wanted to put off the record and we thought no, let's just keep the plan in motion and give something for people out there, something new, something different. Maybe something to get their minds off things. We stuck with it and we just moved forward with it.
On Dynamic Songwriting on Titans of Creation
I think it kind of took its own life to that because I think off of Brotherhood, we really wanted to get a record written within like two years. And of course, we got to do the Slayer farewell tour. So of course we did that. So that kind of held us up to getting another record written. Once we got the process started, I think the first song "Children of the Next Level" could have been off Brotherhood, because that record kind of had that futuristic theme of aliens creating mankind kind of vibe and a lot Babylonia kind of stuff.
So "Children of the Next Level", which is the Heaven's Gate story, that was the first song we wrote lyrically, musically for this record. So we thought maybe we're going in that direction and it's going to continue with that kind of vibe. But then the songs started coming out from Eric that had different feelings that weren't your typical riff or notes that you would pick for metal. There's some influence feeling-wise like "Ishtar's Gate", "Code of Hammurabi", songs like that, that just have a different feel to them. They started feeling more eastern kind of and had a different flavor to it. Songs like that started taking on their own lives.
A lot of the songs we write is stuff that's personal that we've experienced or we've done. I know when we went to Israel and Jerusalem, or to Berlin to see the gates and the museums, I know Eric kind of got inspired by that. I think that's what kind of took on that musical vibe. But also for me it was a weird note and I probably typically would have fought Eric, change it and write something more comfortable for me to sing, like an E or something simple like that. I didn't this time and I kind of just took what he gave me and went for it and did my best. So it really kind of pushed me over out of the comfort zone on creating like the lyrical patterns and then the topics that it went into. Just what Eric was giving me, everything just had its own story. Right away I could tell everything had its own feeling.
On Sharing Vocal Duties on Night of the Witch
That one we were kind of taking a risk, because the part that Eric sings originally when he wrote the song, I wanted to take that riff out and not have that part because I wasn't going to sing the screechy witch part. So Eric wanted to keep the part, so I thought, OK, well, then you'll be the witch and you do to the screechy part like the Dragonlord stuff you do. And so when he gave it a shot, it really made it totally standout and different. And so we decide, OK, we'll keep it, but that's going to be your part. You're going to be the witch (laughs).
On 30 Years of Early Testament Records
(Big anniversaries stand out) when they're pointed out, of course, especially those first four or five records. We put those out every year. We wrote a record and put it out and toured for five years in a row. People just don't do that anymore. Those were special years and a special time for us because we were just working hard for five years, with 50 plus songs and just going at it. But I think, you know, working that hard, we were just young and maybe we were caught up in a lifestyle of being a rock star and sex, drugs, rock and roll kind of thing and not really paying attention to other parts of being an entertainer.
I think just in the younger years maybe it was too focused on that and not much of the business or how we performed and do things, where I think now as you progress and get older, it's more since we slowed down on the partying, but we're more focused on the show and the performance and making sure we've given 100%. I like to see bands live that sound like the records, so I really want to try to play as close to that as we can and be as good as we can.
On Collaborating with Other Artists
I totally love doing it. Especially when it's more me doing the lead part of most of the songs and someone creates something for me to sing because it's fun singing what other people hear. I would probably sing it differently, but when they come up with something, it's challenging. It again pushes me outside the comfort zone a little bit, which is when you get creative.
On His Seminal Metal Album
God, for me just to go back and bring me the good memories of times that it's still a classic and stands up today, it's probably Judas Priest, Unleashed in the East. That record has got so much energy. And I'm a big Priest fan. From when I first heard it until now it still holds up.
On Cancelled North American Tour/Potential Bay Strikes Back U.S. Tour
For that we will (reschedule N.A. tour with The Black Dahlia Murder, Municipal Waste). I mean, we just did the The Bay Strikes Back in Europe, and the reason we didn't do it in the U.S. is because we were kind of waiting for Exodus to get a record written. But we're trying to work on that tour in America. So I think The Black Dahlia one, if anything will be moved to 2021. I think we're really trying to get The Bay Strikes Back in motion here in the U.S. towards the end of the year.
Parting Thoughts on Testament in 2020
We're definitely not trying to rehash. I really have to give a lot of credit to Eric. I mean, he's the main songwriter and riff writer. Of course he loves his black metal and will listen to that stuff personally, but he's not the kind of guy that follows anything new, happening or listens to Sirius or anything like that. So when he's working and writing he's kind of living within his own world, his own window, which makes it great for us because it keeps us sounding like Testament, but he gets experimental depending on what he's listening to or feeling or whatever.
So whenever we write a record, I don't know which side of the bed he woke up on or what he's going to write. I think that's the unique part where we've been lucky and fortunate, especially writing the last four or five records.
