Testament – ‘Para Bellum’ Album Review

Testament – ‘Para Bellum’

Thrash Metal

Nuclear Blast Records

Release Date – October 10^th 2025

Review By Smudge Smith

Has it really been 5 years since Testament’s last album, ‘Titans Of Creation’? They went in a more progressive direction on ‘Titans of Creation’, but on this one they have gone more extreme in many ways.

Opener ‘For The Love Of Pain’ is a crushing lump of melodic death metal with Chuck Billy giving us his bear-like roar from the off, and I’m assuming Eric Peterson is helping with some black metal vocals alongside Billy. Jeez, this is raw and powerful, with new drummer Chris Dovas smacking the living daylights out of anything within arm’s reach and double kicking like an Olympian. ‘Infanticide A.I’ starts slowly before they change gears and bring you another pounding, with Billy now giving it large and Peterson and his six-string sidekick Alex Skolnick delivering some more crushing riffs and white-hot leads. It’s brutal and relentless. Dovas rattles out a tribal rhythm to start ‘Shadow People’ as Skolnick and Peterson provide a classic metal riff backed up by the solid bottom end from Steve DiGiorgio, and it’s time to bang your head. They put the brakes on for the acoustic-led ballad ‘Meant To Be’. They’ve done this before, and this includes some beautiful strings courtesy of Dave Eggar, Xavi Morato and Chuck Palmer. Keep your six guns in their holsters as ‘High Noon’ rattles along into the rapid ‘Witch Hunt’ with lyrics provided by former singer and ex-Exodus man Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza; then ‘Nature Of The Beast’ shows where their influences come from with a real Priest/Maiden feel. ‘Room 117’ is another bouncy headbanger with a catchy chorus and some heavy riffage which continues on the superb ‘Havana Syndrome’. The title track brings back the melodic side of the band for the intro before they lay down a proper chug fest and some more of those blinding leads.

I honestly don’t know how they do it. This is right up there with their best work. Testament have been at this for over 40 years and show no sign of stopping. Testament, along with Destruction and Sodom, have released stunning products this year that seriously put the younger generation to shame. It’s fast, furious, and aggressive with some catchy melodies. This is how thrash is done.

Track List –

For The Love Of Pain

Infanticide A.I

Shadow People

Meant To Be

High Noon

Witch Hunt

Nature Of The Beast

Room 117

Havana Syndrome

Para Bellum