TESTAMENT bassist Steve DiGiorgio and drummer Gene Hoglan were forced to miss the band’s appearance at the Heavy Montreal festival at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada earlier today (Saturday, August 8) due to their touring commitments in Europe with DEATH TO ALL (DTA). Replacing them at the show were Tilen Hudrap from VICIOUS RUMOURS on bass and Alex Bent from BATTLECROSS on drums.

Check out a couple of photos below.

A new TESTAMENT studio album is currently being written for a tentative early 2016 release.

Speaking about the progress of the songwriting sessions for TESTAMENT‘s follow-up to 2012’s “Dark Roots Of Earth”, guitarist Eric Peterson told “Robb’s Metalworks”: “I would say, musically, [we have] probably, like, a little bit over half [the record written] — maybe a little bit more. Chuck‘s catching up [on writing vocal lines and lyrics]. And the first batch of songs are just, like, all thrash. And I usually only write a couple of thrash ones, and then I focus on midtempo or just real heavy. But, for some reason, they just all came out super fast. And they’re all different, too, so I think, actually, they’ll all be keepers.”

On the topic of when TESTAMENT plans to begin recording the new album, Peterson said: “My main goal is to get home [from tour] in June, finish it up and get in the studio by September.” As for the CD’s possible release date, he said: “Well, you know, it’s tough to have it out later in the year, because if you put it out past October, people will say, ‘Oh, that’s last year’s record, and it’s only been out for a couple of months. So I would lean more towards early ’16. And that’s right around the corner. We will serve no wine before its time. So it’s gotta be right.”

Testament #heavymontreal2015

A photo posted by bucketlist (@bucketlist_music_reviews) on Aug 8, 2015 at 2:24pm PDT

Side #mainstage #testament #heavymontreal #metal

A photo posted by Aaron Spink (@spinko84) on Aug 8, 2015 at 2:19pm PDT

Fonte: Blabbermouth.net