TESTAMENT's ERIC PETERSON: 'There's Probably A Lot More That We Could Do To Be More Of A Streaming Band'

In a new interview with Tavo El Billy, TESTAMENT guitarist Eric Peterson spoke about how his band has been able to adapt to the access-over-ownership business model of streaming music. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The industry, the record company side, they've seen that record sales have gone down a lot, but what they now acknowledge and they now look at is streaming and stuff like that. So in that case, TESTAMENT is now bigger than we've been. They don't go off record sales anymore. That's a good thing, obviously. [There's] physical sales and there's streaming and then there's online sales, but I think what they look at now is the streaming. Even TESTAMENT isn't so pro focusing on streaming. We're still kind of stuck in the — I wouldn't say 'stuck', but there's probably a lot more that we could do to be more of a streaming band. That just sounds weird to us, but I think that's kind of where it's headed. I think that there's room for TESTAMENT to work a little bit harder with that mentality of streaming and stuff like that."

Peterson's bandmate, TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy, previously talked about the importance of still releasing full-length records during a March 2020 interview with The Aquarian Weekly. At the time he said: "I have also asked the same question going in to work on the last few albums: why do we even make records anymore when all people seem to want are singles? Thanks to the Internet, many people will only download one or two of their favorite tracks [from a record]. People don't download entire records anymore.

"It's tough," he admitted. "You've got to get out there and hit the pavement. It's like you're starting over [when you release a new record]. You have to tour and push the record. Some people may want to buy the CD, but don't know where to get it. They no longer have the option of going out to a record store chain to buy it. They don't get to walk into a store, see an album and say, 'I can get that record right here. Cool, it's even cheaper here than anywhere else.' We used to sell a lot of CDs that way."

TESTAMENT's latest album, "Titans Of Creation", was released in April 2020 via Nuclear Blast. The long-awaited follow-up to 2016 album "Brotherhood Of The Snake" was produced by Billy and Peterson while Juan Urteaga of Trident Studios handled co-producing, recording and engineering. Andy Sneap was responsible for the mixing and mastering of the album. Eliran Kantor stepped up once again to create the artwork for the cover of this release.

Drummer Dave Lombardo rejoined TESTAMENT in February 2022 following the departure of Gene Hoglan.

An original member of thrash metal legends SLAYER, Lombardo was the guest drummer on TESTAMENT's 1999 studio album "The Gathering", which also marked the first time the band worked with then-up-and-coming British producer/engineer Andy Sneap.

TESTAMENT released a "Titans Of Creation" video album in September 2022 via Nuclear Blast. The limited-edition collectible features performance videos of all the tracks on the record. The footage was compiled at a soundstage in San Francisco and was edited into music video-style clips that were made available on Blu-ray accompanying the CD with bonus photos and liner notes plus a button and sticker in a longbox. Staying true to the record, the performances feature Gene Hoglan behind the kit. This version is limited to 6,500 units worldwide.