Hello! Welcome to my review of the brand spanking new Testament album entitled Parabellum. I plan on being as fair as possible. This is their fourteenth album, so they have a sizeable back catalog to compare Para Bellum with previous albums.

The first thing I notice right off the bat is the amount of blast beats on this release. They have unleashed them before, on Dark Roots of Earth “Native Blood”; the entire chorus is just raging blasting, plus it was Gene fucking Hoglan doing the blasting, which made it even better.

Brotherhood of the Snake had them a bit as well, but not as pronounced. I honestly think I slept on Titans of Creation because I don’t remember any of the songs, it doesn’t matter now since I’m not reviewing that one, it came out in 2020 also… different times and whatnot.

Anyway, it’s 2025 now, and Testament is back, and that’s back with a capital B. Para Bellum is a racetrack with a speed bump (more on that later), they have a new drummer, a guy named Chris Dovas… dude is a fucking powerhouse behind the kit. He has definitely impacted the brutality contained within Parabellum.

The first track, “For the Love of Pain” is like a container truck full of blast beats rolled over and they all spilled out. It’s a mind-blowing, full-body blow that just keeps hitting your eardrums like a swinging bag. Those riffs that Eric Peterson comes up with have gotten a lot more Death Metal, and since he started Dragon Lord, he dipped into Black Metal territory as well. Alex Skolnick will always be the Thrash guitarist extraordinaire, and he pulls out the stops on this one.

Is it The Legacy and The New Order good? Ummmm… those are classic albums that bring back memories of a sound long forgotten, that 80s Thrash tone that made so many killer albums what they were. Para Bellum doesn’t grab me like those two in particular did when they came out.

“Infanticide A.I.” has so many holy shit moments to where I just sat there with my jaw hanging open, looking like a fucking idiot. That riff is just flammable, and Chuck Billy sounds like he’s angry at the world; as it should be. “Shadow People” is next,and it’s like, self-aware of what direction it needs to go. Therefore, it exists as a menacing, groove-laced Thrash track.

This is that point, that speed bump, I wish I didn’t have to mention i,t but “Meant to Be” kills the momentum like a shot of Narcan. It is an impenetrable wall of meh. Ever since the song “The Ballad” from Practice What You Preach came out, they’ve done ballads; but here you’ve got “Shadow People” which is a heavy track, and then… pfft. It’s not a bad song, and I feel like I’ve trashed the shit out of it, I guess like next to next-to-last song would have been better than right in the middle of the record. It is what it is, though.

“High Noon” is the recovery track because it bursts out with some more precision blasts that are earthshaking. Killer riffing completes the package with Steve DiGiorgio and his rock-solid performance on the Bass.

“Witch Hunt” starts with this killer riff, and it rips with some classic Thrash tempo. It’s got some badass blast fills before the haunting chorus and this solo that comes out of nowhere and blows shit up. “Nature of the Beast” is a mid-paced callback to The Ritual and Souls of Black. It’s a fun track, and quite frankly, I didn’t like those two albums as much as everyone else did, but this song takes the good from them; like “Electric Crown”, for instance, maybe it’s just me.

“Room 117” is another mid-paced steamroller that strides as bad as a motherfucker, with Skolnick and Peterson ripping out so much crushing heaviness from their guitars. “Havana Syndrome” is a bit faster; it could’ve been quite at home on Practice What You Preach.

I have to mention Chuck Billy and his powerful delivery on Parabellum. Dude’s voice sounds fantastic and strong as ever. The title track is in the position that “Meant to Be” should’ve occupied, the last song… whatever. “Parabellum” is a monster track that carries a bit of Demonic and The Gathering. The blasts that ravage the chorus, combined with some more amazing soloing, make this an album favorite for me, and the thrashy bits before the chorus hits are just sublime.

At the end of the day, Testament has unleashed a helluva brutal album. Is it better than the new Dark Angel? Well, go listen to both and make your own decisions on that. Para Bellum is a brutal Thrash album, and that’s it. Go get it!

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