ALBUM REVIEW: PARA BELLUM BY TESTAMENT
Reviewed by Cecilia Pattison-LeviI've been listening to this album for a few weeks, and it has taken many listens to really get into it. Testament fans are sure to love the fact that ‘Para Bellum’ is sonically more adventurous than their last few albums, which have been traditional and wedded to their style.
‘Para Bellum’ sees Testament revisiting their past sonic territory and experimenting with their sound. It makes the album a strong 10-song assortment with sounds from across their back catalogue. It can therefore make the album seem like they have thrown in a lot of stuff into the mix. There is a time warp a bit of a trip to the 1980s with the synth strings, like on the 7-minute rock ballad ‘Meant To Be’ that is probably my favourite song on the album.
The album opens with ‘For the Love of Pain’ which immediately brings in the guitar-heavy riffage. Chris Dovas (drums) instantly makes his presence known with his frequent blast beats. The double vocal lines of Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson almost goes into black metal country. It is followed by the fast and heavy thrash track ‘Infanticide A.I.’ with lyrics that explore the dangers of artificial intelligence, depicting apocalyptic threats from deepfakes, replication, and machines replacing humanity. Then, ‘Shadow People’ is a complete contrast with its haunting, groove-heavy and complex thrash track.
In the songs like the bluesy riffs in ‘High Noon’ and ‘Witch Hunt’, Testament teases out those extreme sonic metal flavours and classic heavy sounds. The odd Las Vegas themed ‘Nature of the Beast’ is a bit of a dad rock track. The other album highlight is ‘Room 117’ and it is a heavy metal banger.
What is really important to understand about Testament is their focus on the craft of songwriting and crafting their music that can be as catchy as it can be intense and thrashy. The track ‘Havana Syndrome’ is a very traditional 1980s heavy metal sound with those big harmonies. The album closes out on an epic note with the title track ‘Para Bellum’ and it’s a beast of a headbanger. The song references the Roman maxim “Si vis pacem, para bellum” which translates to: “If you want peace, prepare for war”.
The pace of ‘Para Bellum’ does fluctuate and doesn’t always maintain its level of intensity across its 10 songs. What the album’s 10 songs do offer is one of the most varied sets of songs in Testament’s catalogue. This is a strong album with enough variety to appeal to fans from across the band’s eras and lengthy history.
