Testament Para Bellum Review
Testament
Para Bellum
Nuclear Blast
2025
If you're new here, or to top-notch thrash in general, you should know that Testament have been ripping it up from the Bay Area of California since 1983. Their fourteenth album finds them still grinding away, evolving and carrying their trademark sound better than most bands their age. Let's take a deep dive into Para Bellum.
The core of sole original member and guitarist Eric Peterson, vocalist Chuck Billy (holder of the mic stand air guitar championship), and Alex Skolnick (guitars) remains, with Steve DiGiorgio (Sadus/Death) once again on bass and new blood in drummer Chris Dovas (Seven Spires/DOVAS) completing the lineup. For this effort, the band enlisted Juan Ortega as producer, along with Billy and Peterson overseeing the proceedings. The result is a tight, modern production that sounds especially crisp given Testament’s propensity for syncopated rhythms, busy drums, and DiGiorgio’s prog-minded bass lines.
But let's backtrack and talk about the drumming of Chris Dovas. This guy is a PLAYER and can weave in and out of styles effortlessly. Notably, “For the Love of Pain,” which is ferocious thrash with a big ol’ dollop of black metal influences, complete with blast beats. This isn't new for them, as they've explored the genre before, but this feels as close to Peterson's Dragonlord project as they've ever gotten. Dare I say it, but I can even discern some “djent” sections that go further in spicing the sonic soup. The thrashing with blasting shows up again in “Infanticide A.I.,” and Chuck Billy sounds like an unhinged lunatic here. There are even places where this one borders on grindcore! These two songs prove Testament can still go as hard as the young bucks, respectively. The album is just over 50 minutes long, and from here, it seems they settle into their curated sound, if not wandering from it a bit. Let me explain further…
One marked difference is that this is the first Testament record in quite some time to include a ballad in “Meant to Be.” There's also the British heavy metal/hard rock (Saxon to my ears) arc of “Nature of the Beast.” Where I find the album to shine is in its later tracks. “Room 117” is a downright nasty blend of classic Testament and classic heavy metal, with a winning chorus and memorable, hook-laden guitar moments. “Havana Syndrome” follows suit, and the closing title track is good but seems to be bloating with ideas. It's not bad, just a bit incoherent at times. There are way more hits than misses in its eleven songs, and the genre melding doesn't seem forced or being done to remain relevant. So, I can solidly say that Para Bellum is more firepower in the Testament catalog of quality albums, and these thrash titans still have plenty of gas in their tank.
In an uncertain world where it's taking Anthrax now close to a decade to get a new record going, Metallica releasing whatever they want and it being hailed as the second coming, Slayer not knowing whether they are retired or not, and Megadeth calling it quits after their new album and tours wrap up, Testament has us thrash fans eating good here…
~TB