Thrash Metal
Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date – October 10th 2025
Line Up:
Chuck Billy – Vocals
Eric Peterson – Guitar
Alex Skolnick – Guitar
Steve DiGiorgio – Bass
Chris Dovas – Drums
Tracklist:
For The Love Of Pain
Infanticide A.I
Shadow People
Meant To Be
High Noon
Witch Hunt
Nature Of The Beast
Room 117
Havana Syndrome
Para Bellum
Has it really been 5 years since Testament’s last album ‘Titans Of Creation’? They went in a more progressive direction on ‘Titans Of Creation’ but on this one they have gone more extreme in many ways.
Opener ‘For The Love Of Pain’ is a crushing lump of melodic death metal with Chuck Billy giving us his bear like roar from the off and I’m assuming Eric Peterson is helping with some black metal vocals alongside Billy. Jeez this is raw and powerful with new drummer Chris Dovas smacking the living daylights out of anything within arm’s reach and double kicking like an Olympian. ‘Infanticide A.I’ starts slowly before they change gears and bring you another pounding with Billy now going all out and Peterson and his six-string sidekick Alex Skolnick delivering some more crushing riffs and white-hot leads. It’s brutal and relentless. Dovas rattles out a tribal rhythm to start ‘Shadow People’ as Skolnick and Peterson provide a classic metal riff backed up by the solid bottom end from Steve DiGiorgio and it’s time to bang your head. They put the brakes on for the acoustic led ballad ‘Meant To Be’. They’ve done this before, and this includes some beautiful strings courtesy of Dave Eggar, Xavi Morato and Chuck Palmer. Keep your six guns in their holsters as ‘High Noon’ rattles along into the rapid ‘Witch Hunt’ with lyrics provided by former singer and ex-Exodus man Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza then ‘Nature Of The Beast’ shows where their influences come from with a real Priest/Maiden feel. ‘Room 117’ is another bouncy headbanger with a catchy chorus and some heavy riffage which continues on the superb ‘Havana Syndrome’. The title track brings back the melodic side of the band for the intro before they lay down a proper chug fest and some more of those blinding leads.
I honestly don’t know how they do it. This is right up there with their best work. Testament have been at this for over 40 years and show no sign of stopping. Testament, along with Destruction and Sodom have released stunning product this year that seriously put the younger generation to shame. It’s fast, furious, aggressive with some catchy melodies. This is how thrash is done.
Written by: Smudge
Ratings: 9/10
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