TESTAMENT Drummer NICK BARKER: 'To Say I'm Stoked Would Be An Understatement!'

New TESTAMENT drummer Nick Barker (formerly of DIMMU BORGIR and CRADLE OF FILTH) has released the following statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:

"Well, first of all, let me inform the non-believers that have posted comments of doubt and negativity here on Blabbermouth that — YES, we are working on the new record, AND YES, die-hard TESTAMENT [fans] will not be disappointed!!!! Eric (Peterson, guitar),Alex (Skolnick, guitar) and myself have been locked away in a Sacremento rehearsal space known as the dungeon of hell, jamming day and night for the new record over the course of the past three weeks, as well as rehearsing with the whole band in Oakland for our upcoming tour of Australia in Febuary. It's still early days yet on the songwriting front, but I will say that what we have so far is quite honestly mindblowing stuff in the vein of 'The Legacy'-, 'New Order'-meets-'The Gathering', only with yours truly behind the kit pounding like I've never pounded before.

"It's a truly magical feeling for me when I play the older TESTAMENT songs with the guys as well as writing the new record. I have an overwhelming deep sense of pride, honor and achievement knowing that the four horsemen from apocalyptic city (Chuck [Billy, vocals], Eric, Alex and Greg [Christian, bass]) could choose any one of a million awesome drummers out there in the metal field today to do this, but instead they selected me, some high-school dropout kid from a bullshit mining town in the north of England.

"It's still sinking in that I'm the new drummer for the Bay Area GODZ TESTAMENT. It's a great feeling to be jamming with a group of outstanding musicians that I have admired, respected and followed for 20 years of my life. Playing in TESTAMENT is like a teen thrash wet dream come true. To say I'm stoked would be an understatement!!!

Upcoming TESTAMENT shows:

Jan. 27 - Independent - San Francisco, CA
Feb. 07 - Prince of Wales Hotel – Melbourne, AUS
Feb. 08 - The Manning Bar - Sydney, AUS
Feb. 09 - The Waterloo Hotel - Brisbane, AUS
Mar. 23 - Almassy MK Hall - Budapest, HUN
Mar. 24 - Hala Spodek - Katowice, POL
Jul. 26 - Hellwood Fest - Subotica, SER
Aug. 25 - Up from the Ground Open Air Fest - Gemunden, GER

Spitfire will release a TESTAMENT compilation, "The Spitfire Collection", on February 13.

Consisting of tracks from such Spitfire/Testament titles as "The Gathering", "Demonic", "Live at the Fillmore", "First Strike Still Deadly" and "Live in London", the 14-track set chronicles an era that ultimately saw the original TESTAMENT reunite for a successful 2005 tour.

As a result, "The Spitfire Collection" features both live versions of such TESTAMENT classics as "Practice What You Preach", "Over the Wall", and "Souls of Black", as well as such oft-overlooked studio tracks as "Careful What You Wish For" and "The Burning Times".

"The Spitfire Collection" track listing:

01. The New Order
02. Souls of Black
03. Practice What You Preach
04. Hatred's Rise
05. The Burning Times
06. John Doe
07. Careful What You Wish For
08. Down for Life
09. Riding the Snake
10. Over the Wall
11. The Preacher
12. Into the Pit
13. Trial by Fire
14. Disciples of the Watch