Testament's 'Para Bellum' Is the Best Metal Album of 2025

Testament's Para Bellum is both a thunderous celebration of the band's thrash legacy and a bold venture into uncharted territory — and it's Loudwire's best metal album of 2025.

Why Did We Pick This Album?

Far too many metal acts go soft in their advanced age. Some lose their songwriting mojo while others let their chops regress to the point that they can no longer summon the fire and fury of their youth.

Not Testament. On Para Bellum, the Bay Area veterans reassert their status as one of thrash metal's smartest and most virtuosic bands. Forty years and 14 albums deep, they sound hungrier and more pissed off than ever.

That fury is apparent from the first notes of Para Bellum's opening track, "For the Love of Pain," which injects the band's signature thrash sound with death and black metal-inspired blast beats, blistering screams and tremolo-picked riffs. Lead single "Infanticide A.I." is a blistering takedown of artificial intelligence, written and performed by real-life, no-bullshit metal giants.

The rest of Para Bellum rips and roars in similar fashion, alternating between breakneck thrash and piledriving grooves with a brief foray into muscular, atmospheric balladry (the seven-and-a-half-minute epic "Meant to Be").

Watch the Video for Testament's "Infanticide A.I."

What Did Testament Fans Say About Para Bellum?

Don't just take our word for it, though. Critics and fans alike were floored by the unrelenting brutality and playful virtuosity displayed throughout Para Bellum.

"Overall it sure is more creative than other recent works like [Metallica's] 72 Seasons and [Megadeth's] The Sick, the Dying ... and the Dead!" wrote one Reddit user.

Others praised the work of young new drummer Chris Dovas, who replaced Dave Lombardo in 2023 (who had stepped in after Gene Hoglan's recent three-album reign behind the kit). Para Bellum marks Dovas' recording debut with Testament, and the 27-year-old musician has already put an indelible stamp on the group's sound.

READ MORE: Best Thrash Metal Album of Each Year Since 1983

What Does Para Bellum Mean for Testament?

Before Testament pushed forward on Para Bellum, they looked to their past on the road.

The band dove deep into their catalog on 2024's Klash of the Titans tour with Kreator, culling their setlists from 1987's The Legacy and 1989's The New Order. Testament guitarist and primary songwriter Eric Peterson says these old-school shows primed the band for the making of Para Bellum.

"Doing The New Order and The Legacy in its entirety, doing Practice What You Preach, especially the older stuff, playing all that thrash again ... Jesus, the right hand's just going 'rrrrr' the whole time," Peterson tells Loudwire. "Then when I get home and I'm writing riffs, I'm already kind of thinking like that in the back of my head a little bit. So it's full circle. We're kind of back to the beginning but with all these newer influences, especially with the death and the black metal vibes — which we were into, or I was always into, as a kid."

Peterson — who also leads a symphonic black metal side project called Dragonlord — says he felt emboldened to incorporate more extreme metal elements on Para Bellum after jamming with Dovas, in whom he found a kindred spirit.

"I feel like we've always had these newer elements since [1994's] Low i.e. 'Dog Faced Gods,'" Peterson says. "So the idea has always been there, but it wasn't until young new drummer Chris Dovas came in and shared the same or similar love and influences drumming-wise for my riffs as I do [that I realized] this makes for a great and deadly match!"

What New Metal Bands Have Inspired Testament?

Peterson also keeps his pulse on the finger of modern metal, name-checking deathcore acts such as Lorna Shore, Mental Cruelty and Crown Magnetar as bands he's currently enjoying. Yet despite his own tastes and extreme metal's increasing commercial viability, Peterson wasn't fully convinced that Para Bellum should lead with its heaviest foot.

"I kinda had a formula of how I thought the record would go," he admits. But his colleagues had other ideas.

"Everybody at the studio here is saying, 'You need to come out with this song, "For the Love of Pain."' I go, 'Isn't that kinda heavy?' They're like, 'Yeah, you want to be heavy.' So I think they're right, because a lot of people like that song. But then after you realize what's out there, you listen to Lorna Shore and … Slaughter to Prevail … They're really doing good right now."

He adds with a laugh: "Then I listen to mine and I'm like, all right, ours is like a pop version."

Listen to Testament's "For the Love of Pain"

What's Next for Testament?

Dovas, meanwhile, follows in the footsteps of some of metal's most acclaimed drummers, including Gene Hoglan, Paul Bostaph and Lombardo. Those are big shoes to fill, but Dovas rose to the occasion with great panache — and he says this is only the beginning.

"It's definitely an honor because those are all drummers that I look up to," Dovas tells Loudwire. "I think the best part about how the album turned out was that Eric and I had so much fun working and writing together. We spent so much time together, and the chemistry we have when making music is something that I'm very grateful for. We already have plans to start working on the next record!"

Testament have a summer of European festival dates on the books heading into 2026 and we sure more dates will be revealed soon as Para Bellum continues to be celebrated worldwide.

Congrats to Testament for earning Loudwire's Metal Album of the Year!

Watch + Listen Loudwire Nights' Interview With Testament's Eric Peterson