Testament have been hard at work on the successor to 2012's Dark Roots of the Earth and just their third album of the new millennium, but with evidence to support, the wait has always been worth it. The thrash outfit's members have all kept busy outside of the band in recent years, but now singer Chuck Billy has given some exciting new details concerning the long-awaited effort.

"Right now, I think The Brotherhood Of The Snake is what we're going to title the album," began the frontman in an interview with WMSC 90.3 (audio below). Revealing more, he continued, "And it's the first single. I think it's probably going to be a freebie that we'll just give people to check out." Billy still has to track his vocals, which he planned to start over the weekend.

Speaking a bit more about the single, he said the song is so fast that drummer extraordinaire Gene Hoglan, noted for his lightning stickwork, had difficulties keeping up with the pace of the blast beats.

Testament will be heading out on tour opening for Slayer with support from Carcass. Billy said he will try to finish up writing the rest of the lyrics for the album while on tour. As far as inspiration for putting the pen to paper, the frontman discussed ideas he has kicking around. "The main part in The Brotherhood of the Snake is basically, 5000 year ago secret society stuff," he explained. Going further, he said, "We're really fascinated with a lot of... I was born Catholic and seeing all these shows on the connection between religion and aliens, it makes you think about everything. There's a fascination with that. I'll probably connect with my native heritage again in some songs. So, just a little bit of everything that affects our life."

When he's not busy with Testament, Chuck Billy has been active with his management company, Breaking Bands, LLC. Speaking with Full Metal Jackie in June of last year, the singer opened up about his business venture, stating, "For me, especially it’s a lot of work. A lot of stuff you have to juggle with different acts and artists, and individual personalities. That’s a whole other thing, [laughs]. Being in a band and knowing where people are coming from in that sense, I’ve been in that headspace. I have a little edge there to deal with that."

Testament's Chuck Billy on WMSC 90.3

See Testament on the Top 50 Hard Rock + Metal Debut Albums

See Where Testament Ranks on the 10 Greatest Thrash Bands

More From Loudwire