There's something strangely timeless about Testament, the band seeming much younger than their average 60-plus ages and still providing a devastating live show as the recent tour with Obituary and Destruction in this neck of the woods proved. It doesn't seem possible that Titans of Creation, their last album, came out five years ago, or before that Brotherhood of the Snake nearly ten, let alone that the band are rapidly approaching their fortieth anniversary - and are well over it if you count the Legacy years! And erm, legacy thrash acts aren't exactly known for putting out their best material in their later years, the likes of Sodom and Destruction at least staying solid whilst we'd all rather forget the still painful piss-yellow cover of 72 Seasons, let alone the music itself...

So, it's a delight to put on Para Bellum and promptly have your ears blown off! The band sound downright hungry, violent and aggressive from the start, and although they've toyed with death metal elements in the past to varying forms of success, there hasn't been so much extreme metal leaking through since the Demonic days. Blame Eric Peterson's Dragonlord influence if you must, yet there's a noticeable black metal influence to opener For the Love of Pain, galloping riffage and an intense double-bass assault from new drummer Chris Dovas beneath Chuck Billy's roar and some backing blackened yowls from Peterson that will have Ritual fans checking they've put the right album on!

It's certainly goddamn heavy, still rooted in thrash even as the riffs carry you to somewhere almost Norwegian and mountainous, and will exercise the neck muscles of all, particularly with the groovier section that starts mid-track and leaves the track sounding something like...Old Man's Child meets Goatwhore?! A real surprise, and a pleasant one to hear an older band sounding so revitalised. That vibe continues through much of the album, certainly one of the best Testament releases since the 90s if not before. Each and every track delivers, a constant barrage of bangers; the groovy stomping of Shadow People, the aggressive High Noon which does Lamb of God better than they have in years if not decades, the more hard-rocking Nature of the Beast. All are terrific.

It is genuinely hard to find faults with this album. Sure, you may not love Testament ballads, and Meant to Be will certainly test the patience of some at seven and a half minutes; it is quite a change of style with its acoustic intro after the preceding heaviness, true. Yet the guitars quickly get heavier, the song is undoubtedly catchy and by the time you've reached the end there's more than enough guitar wizardry to keep your attention peeled. As with all the songs present, it's great on a first listen and only grows on you with further listens - even more notable with late album cuts like Havana Syndrome, which bend your ear from the go with tasty riffwork and infectious vocal hooks and get better each play. And the closing title track leans towards the epic and grandiose, reintroducing those melodic black metal elements to great effect but incorporating them into Testament's own thrash metal sound for an arguably smoother, more intense result and a great album closer. Really, this is undeniably tremendous stuff from start to close; what other thrash band of Testament's vintage could produce an album this good, that doesn't just repeat past tricks but takes a respectable stab at new ground? Killer, veterans working genuine magic, not content to rest on their laurels and keeping the faithful happy as they branch out. All hail!