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TESTAMENT “Para Bellum”
TESTAMENT “Para Bellum”
By Dr. Abner Mality
No one can accuse TESTAMENT of rushing things. “Para Bellum” is their first record in five years, since the rather excellent “Titans of Creation”. Can they keep the momentum of that record going here?
“For The Love Of Pain” rips out of the gate like a cat doused in gasoline and set on fire. The first thing that grabs you is the rawness of the sound; the drums boom like cannons, the guitars are unprocessed and organic. This song hits hard and fast and has a sizable whiff of black metal hiding just beneath the thrash. Given Eric Petersen’s love for that genre, that’s not as big a surprise as it may seem. The intensity doesn’t drop with “Infanticide A.I.”...in fact, it increases. This is TESTAMENT at their thrashiest and Chuck’s growling vocals bring “Demonic” to mind at times. One of the best tracks the band has done in a long time!
With “Shadow People”, the speed eases up, but the groovy, catchy chugginess kicks in big time. This is more like the TESTAMENT of “Practice What You Preach” and “The Gathering” and Chuck’s vocals become cleaner to adapt to it. These first three tracks are the best opening to a TESTAMENT album in a long time and I’m amazed at how raw it all sounds.
Alas, that momentum does not quite sustain itself “Meant To Be” is the obvious METALLICA style ballad, so much so that it sounds a lot like “Fade To Black” in both sound and lyric. It’s not bad as far as TESTAMENT ballads go but it does mark a turning point in the album. From here on out, the tide turns more to groovy, crunchy anthems like “Nature of the Beast”, “Room 117” and “Havana Syndrome”. This latter song in particular is very good...the other two are more on the average side. “Witch Hunt” represents the more feral thrash side of the band, complete with those “Demonic” growls. A peculiar track is “High Noon”, which has the energy, but the riffing is unlike the usual TESTAMENT song. To be honest, it sounds a bit awkward.
The album ends with the magnificent title track, which has power-packed riffs that seem to point to the very earliest days of the Bay Area thrash sound. This epic emerges as my favorite track on the album and should be a joy to any long time TESTAMENT fan.
“Para Bellum” is a remarkably strong album for a band that’s been around as long as these guys have. Perhaps the long gaps between releases really are beneficial because this sounds vital and energetic.
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