Review by Vinny for Testament - Para bellum (2025)

Fourteen albums in and still Chuck Billy sounds like an absolute fucking monster. In terms of positives to take from Para bellum, it is a tossup which to take as the standout section, Billy’s vocals or Peterson and Skolnick’s guitar work. The riffs on here are certainly on a par with the quality exhibited on Titans of Creation, an album that I only recently revisited, awarding a four-star rating to it in fact. For the first three tracks on the new record at least, Testament pick up where they left off on their previous album from five years ago. That level of intensity of delivery from a band who are four decades into their existence is no mean feat it should be acknowledged. There is a vitality to Testament that left the likes of Megadeth many records ago. It sounds like Testament are not simply enduring the latter years of their career, more that they are enjoying them.

That is not to say that Para bellum is a flawless record, in fact it is far from that in my experience. When I first played it, I was bitterly disappointed, to the point where I was possibly not going to bother revisiting. My recent exploration of Titans… had left the bar high and the initial run through of this album did not get anywhere near for my money. A more critical listen (in my usual protected place of in bed with headphones on) did pay dividends though and I am now of a much more positive mindset of than I was. I must agree with what Sonny calls out in his review though, Para bellum does suffer with filler and as a result ends up outstaying its welcome. I too can forgive the power ballad, ‘Meant to Be’ even though it is placed far too early in the track listing for my liking and is quite disruptive as a result. The fact that the ‘High Noon’, the first of the filler tracks comes in after it makes this random cowboy track stick out even more.

There is in fact no memorability across the middle section of the album. The track listing appears to disappear into a black hole in fact for three tracks which is a particularly bad place for any album to run out of steam. The fact that it then falters again after ‘Room 117’ ensures that the band end up feeling like they just fall over the finish line as opposed to romp over it with the success that the record promises early on. I am not even convinced by the title track that closes the album. So, in the end, Testament show enough positives to avoid a score that reflects their latest album being a failure, yet they do lack the stamina to go the full length. Right now it sits just behind Sodom’s effort this year and ahead of the poor Destruction album that came out this past March.