Review Summary: A musical resurgence nearly forty years in.
When Testament released
The Formation of Damnation back in 2008, they established the blueprint from which every new album has been crafted ever since. It was a formula that blended their classic sound with the more extreme modern metal influences of
The Gathering, and while it led to four exceptional albums, they were also all very similar. After seventeen years of using this formula to great success, there was no reason to believe
Para Bellum was going to deviate from this pattern, but that’s exactly what has happened. While the previous albums all attempted to make equal use of old and new sounds,
Para Bellum often feels like a thrashy blackened death metal release—almost like the modern spiritual successor to
Demonic, except it’s good.
The album opens with the best duo of opening tracks the band has ever managed. “For the Love of Pain” is a thrashy blackened death metal powerhouse that showcases the band’s new drummer, twenty-seven-year-old Chris Dovas, as he alternates between multiple tempos and styles including galloping thrash, blast beats, and Testament’s version of a breakdown. It also highlights another new facet of the band, the prominent inclusion of Eric Peterson’s black metal vocals as he and Chuck Billy share vocal duties throughout the entire song. Also worth noting, is the bridge which features a classic tremolo picked black metal harmony while Steve Di Giorgio artfully provides a melodic bass line. Despite how ferocious the opening track was, “Infanticide A.I.” somehow manages to push the extremity further with another black metal dominated thrash performance that ups the tempo while simultaneously including more thrash elements.
In interviews with the band leading up to this release, there was a lot of talk about how their new drummer, Chris Dovas, injected a new youthful energy into the band while inspiring Eric Peterson to push the band’s music again—I would have to agree with them. Using a younger drummer instead of one steeped in ‘legacy’ metal has gone a long way towards helping the band feel very modern. His inclusion seems to have motivated Eric to deliver one of Testament’s most visceral releases; one that embraces modern metal, black metal, and death metal in ratios almost equal to that of their thrash roots. Fortunately, the rest of the band were up to the challenge with Chuck Billy snarling, growling and shouting with more power and conviction than I may have ever heard from one of their studio albums. It also features Steve Di Giorgio providing a classy and nuanced bass performance throughout the album in a way I don’t believe I’ve ever heard from him on a Testament album… and Alex’s leads, tasty as always.
Honestly, this release is so damn good that it almost feels like it could be Testament’s best album ever, but there are a few missteps that at least make it easier to argue in favor of an earlier release. My biggest complaint is the lumbering, plodding, 7-minute 33-second ballad that has no business even being half that long. Had it maintained a sub-four-minute run time, it could have been as good as most of Testament’s other ballads (for whatever that’s worth), but at nearly 8-minutes it is a momentum killer four songs into the album. The album is also front-loaded, starting to show cracks around the seventh track, “Nature of the Beast”. “Nature of the Beast” is a grooving thrashy rock song that is musically decent, but the lyrics about Las Vegas (I believe) are so full of bad gambling puns as well as an awkward vocal delivery that the music just can’t salvage it. “Room 117” suffers from the same ‘good music questionable lyrical delivery/choices’ problem, before the album picks up steam for the final two tracks.
Who could have predicted that Testament could experience a second musical renaissance nearly forty years into their career, but that is what has happened. The band are back with the same giant leap in quality they experienced back when they released
The Gathering.
Para Bellum is the kind of album that is not only going to make die hard Testament fans take notice, it’s one of those releases (much like
The Gathering) that will garner the attention of people that have never bothered with Testament. The entire band have somehow managed to find a new gear, allowing them to release one of the most visceral, high quality, and consistent albums of their career. Very few bands even manage to last forty years, let alone release one of the peak albums, but with
Para Bellum that is exactly what has happened.
