HEATHEN To Release 'Empire Of The Blind' Album

San Francisco Bay Area metallers HEATHEN have set "Empire Of The Blind" as the title of their new album, due later in the year via Nuclear Blast Records.

A flyer showing the "Empire Of The Blind" artwork can be found at the merchandise table during "The Bay Strikes Back" 2020 European tour featuring TESTAMENT, DEATH ANGEL and EXODUS, the latter of which includes HEATHEN guitarist Lee Altus.

"Empire Of The Blind" is the follow-up to "The Evolution Of Chaos", which was released as a 10th-anniversary remastered reissue on January 31 via Mascot Records. The effort was made available on CD/DVD, 2LP and digitally with a previously unreleased bonus track, "Seasons Of Purgatory". The CD/DVD was accompanied by a two-hour "making-of" documentary on the album as well as a live performance from 2009's Thrash Domination in Japan.

When "The Evolution Of Chaos" was originally released back in January 2010, it was HEATHEN's first full-length collection of new material in 18 years and saw them ride a wave of the resurgent thrash scene. The band's recording lineup consisted of vocalist David White, guitarists Lee Altus and Kragen Lum, bassist Jon Torres and percussionist Darren Minter.

HEATHEN is often credited — alongside EXODUS, TESTAMENT, FORBIDDEN, DEATH ANGEL and VIO-LENCE — with being one of the leaders of the Bay Area thrash metal scene of the mid-to-late 1980s.

Since its 1984 inception, HEATHEN has gone through several lineup changes, leaving Altus as the only constant member.

To date, HEATHEN has released three studio albums: 1987's "Breaking the Silence", 1991's "Victims Of Deception" and the aforementioned "The Evolution Of Chaos".

HEATHEN in 2012 inked a deal with Nuclear Blast Records.

Altus has been a member of EXODUS since 2005. He joined the group as the replacement for Rick Hunolt, who left EXODUS to concentrate on his family life.