Children of the Next Level by Testament

Album: Titans Of Creation (2020)

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Songfacts®:

This song is about the Heaven's Gate religious cult out of San Diego. In March 1997, 39 members of the group committed suicide to coincide with the appearance of the Hale–Bopp Comet. They believed this would enable them to board an extraterrestrial spacecraft following the comet and reach another level of existence.
"Children of the Next Level' was the first song Testament wrote for the Titans Of Creation album. Frontman Chuck Billy explained to Apple Music that "it took right off" from their 2016 Brotherhood of the Snake set, which drew lyrical inspiration from the ancient astronaut hypothesis.
Other songs that take inspiration from the Heaven's Gate cult include:

"1997" by Saint Motel.

"Huey Newton" by St. Vincent.

"Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled" by Porcupine Tree.

In his video for the song "Nikes," Frank Ocean re-creates the uniform worn by the Heaven's Gate cult during their suicide pact, including their Nike Decades sneakers.
Because Testament was busy touring, they asked Balázs Gróf to create an animated music video for the track. Said Billy: "With the song being about the Heaven's Gate cult, we thought it would make for a good visual story. It takes a lot of time and effort to make animated video and it was really cool to watch the process as it came to life."

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