Album Of The Year 2025

• Country: USA
• Style: Thrash metal
• Label: Nuclear Blast
• Release date: 10 October 2025

Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson produced Para Bellum themselves, recording between May and December 2024 across several studios, and the first thing that stands out is how contemporary it sounds for a band that helped build Bay Area thrash in the eighties. Testament’s fourteenth album is fast, dense and surprisingly dark.

The title comes from the Latin adage si vis pacem, para bellum, if you want peace, prepare for war, and the songs follow that mood, dealing with technology creeping into everyday life, supernatural dread and a sense of generational collapse. “Infanticide A.I.” and “Shadow People” set the tone early.

Musically the band pushes past classic thrash, borrowing textures from blackened and death metal, while “Meant to Be” goes the other way entirely, with strings arranged by Dave Eggar and Chuck Palmer and a slower, progressive build.

It is also the first Testament album with drummer Chris Dovas, who steps into shoes previously filled by Gene Hoglan and Dave Lombardo. No small task, and he clearly earned the job.

Blabbermouth scored it 9/10 and Loudwire named it the best metal album of 2025, though Distorted Sound was cooler at 6/10. It went to number one on the UK Rock & Metal chart. Four decades on, Testament are still pushing forward instead of looking back.

Best tracks:

Infanticide A.I.
Shadow People
Meant to Be
Para Bellum

Author’s rating: 9/10