PESTILENCE

Pestilence is a technical well developed death metal band from Holland that on their 'Testimony of the Ancients'-album set their first step into progressive territory, before recording the fusion-drenched 'Spheres'-album after this one. The band has been credited with being one of the first to discover this territory, combing the death metal sound with mild symphonic arrangements and a broadened eye for harmony and atmosphere. Furthermore, Pestilence plays some very melodic parts on a few tracks reminding me a bit of Iron Maiden.

The sheer heavyness of Pestilence with its very heavy grunts make this only interesting for those who are already fans of the technical death metal genre. I myself like the very heavy Metallica 2.0 sound and interplay and the technical playing of the bandmembers. It's like taking the genre to the extreme. The doomsday feel and slightly gothic keyboard-arrangements on some track give the music more depth. Between every death metal track one finds a short atmospheric interlude, which provides us with some breathing space.

Conclusion. Interesting slightly progressive death metal album that will satisfy listeners of the genre and those interested in its development. Three and a halve stars, though from a metal- point-of-view it would deserve four.

Dutch technical and heavy death metal group Pestilence had already made some pretty heavy trash records before embarking on their one and only truly progressive/fusion death metal album. For many fans of the progressive metal genre it is seen as a revolutionary album, I myself don't know to much about the development of this particular breed of metal.

Pestilence sill has death metal growls, heavy drums and guitars, but some keyboards have entered the mix and time signatures and harmonies have developed quite a bit. The album also sounds a bit more 'electronic' then other albums of the band. All compositions are short and have a more or less traditional form. This isn't much of a problem, because the riffs are all very complex and the harmonic findings are revealed only after a few spins. I'd say it took my at least five listens to acquire some tolerance towards this aggressive maze of riffs and painful shouting. After this a really well composed album begins to appear and I feel enjoyment listening to the inventive use of the death metal elements. Some interludes with keyboard sound a bit dated, but let's not forget this was recorded almost twenty years ago. The production doesn't impress me a lot, but another album of Pestilence also sounded way better on a vinyl and I only have digital copy of this one.

Conclusion. Not an easy entry, but surely a good album for the technical death metal scene. The words jazz and fusion seem a bit out of place, but one does find some extended chords now and then. A well, three and halve stars. Dutch heritage.

Utilizing a producer whose forte is not exactly abrasive metal, the focus is more on making sure each instrument is heard clearly than pummeling the senses, and the guitars don't weigh in with a particularly 'heavy' distortion. In fact, they sound warm enough to cozy up to by the fireside. Bass playing is fretless and audible, and quite an excellent display of showmanship at times by a man who much later would be part of another band with sc-fi leaning recordings named Obscura for a period of time. Drumming is busy and difficult while neither being particularly jazzy nor blasting away with fast thrashy tempos. There's a sort of mid-tempo vibe to this entire endeavor while creatively bouncing around with its time signatures.

The vocals help keep the death metal flame within this group alive, consisting of unusually throaty growls that remind me of Death's vocalist or Lemmy from Motorhead in the throes of one screaming mad seizure. Notable proggish cut "Personal Energy" stands out from the rest of the tracks with its mellow flow and distant robotic vocals providing atmosphere.

Another feature of this record is the synth usage, although in this case it's synth guitars rather than apparently "uncool" keyboards (which they had used in their previous effort). The band emphasizes that no keyboards were used in the liner notes for this album. Great, except that some of this synth guitar layers alone come across as a bit cheesy at times, like a score to some 1970s low budget sci-fi flick involving model spaceships dangling from strings chasing each other in front of a black curtain backdrop.

As a progressive metal album, it more than qualifies and possesses an individual sound that has hardly been duplicated since. It's also a style that can wear out its welcome, since many of these tracks have such similarities that the overall distinction of the album loses that aspect when it comes to individual tracks excepting the instrumentals and "Personal Energy". The vocals themselves can get a bit irritating at times, not because of growling itself, but this sort of "throaty" wail branch of growling is not exactly my favorite design of the form.

An interesting and odd interpretation of extreme metal.

As heavy metal continued to evolve as the 1980's were comming to an end, you could see that something was about to change completely for a number of bands, whose albums could foreshadow some years in advance. Voivod had Dimension Hatröss, Death had Human, Queensrÿche had Rage for Order, Savatage had Streets, Fates Warning had Waken the Guardian and Pestilence had Testimony. Even though Testimony of the Ancients is a straight death metal album for the most part, there are substantial parts of it that point to the direction that the band would take not much time after, such as leaving behind a considerable part of the brutality of Consuming Impulse and foc using in improving their compositional craft and the playing abilities; the biggest case for them, for me, in both cases would be the third song, Twisted Truth, which features some of the most amazing and memorable guitar solos of death metal, leaving me mesmerized everytime I listen to that song.

Testimony of the Ancients also feature a noticeable deal of experimentation on the part of this Dutch band, having keyboards playing on multiple instances (what is still somewhat a taboo amongst extreme bands today, so I can only imagine the backlash they had then based on the fact that the band made some effort to make it clear, on Spheres, that did not used any keyboards) as well as having a number of interludes (though some would call them fillers) through the whole album, which both conclude the song that preceded and introduced the next, what isn't something you would find in any given album, specially in death metal genre. Even the cover is unusual for death metal standards, with a metallic sphere of some sort in what seems to be a tower in castle or fortification, giving the album something of a mystical aura instead of the usual gore/splatter/shock cover art.

Being the middle ground between Consuming Impulse and Spheres, however, has a price: inconsistence; not in quality, mind you, but in integration. In Testimony the band has some hard time integrating their traditional, so to speak, death metal with the new found progressive approach they are employing through the album. It is possible to see the stark change between the death and the prog in a matter of moments. Once again I would like to draw attention to Twisted Truth, where just some few notes separate the brutal atmosphere (made solely by the guitars, bass and drums) and the melodic guitar solos and hooks (which have the keyboard added to the mix, playing in the background, what reinforces the dramatic change in the song's tone).

Both the production and the musicianship here are great, what only add to the album's overall quality. The production, specifically, makes every instrument sound clear, also gives them a some rough edges to couple with the music's aggressiveness.

Rating and final thoughts

Up untill this point in their career, I could say that Pestilence was something of a generic band, being mostly influenced by other bands than actually being an influence, a point of reference. Testimony of the Ancients definitively changes the way that Pesttilence is viewd, making them a band that was not a only considered genuinely good, but also as one of those who were driving this genre forward (and unconsciously founding extreme progressive metal).

Because of all that, 4 stars for this testimony.

Perhaps it is because I was first introduced to Pestilence through their most ambitious and excellent record 'Spheres', but everything I have heard from this Dutch death metal band since has underwhelmed and disappointed me. Ironically enough, 'Spheres' was also the album that effectively killed Pestilence for the better part of two decades; the fans generally disapproved of the more jazz-based direction they were headed in, and the commercial flop cost the band its livelihood. The band only recovered from their discouragement recently, releasing the comeback album 'Resurrection Macabre' in 2009. Sadly though, it sounds like the scars of 'Spheres' rejection are still bleeding. Even on Pestilence's latest record 'Doctrine', it is evident that the band has now cornered themselves in a fairly generic and tame death metal sound. Perhaps in an effort to appease their fans and prevent a repeat, Pestilence has become a band that is afraid to stand out.

Based on a somewhat long-winded intro track of a man chanting in Latin, the artwork and album's title, one might get the implication that this is some sort of concept piece about Christianity. Mind you, even that might be reading into what 'Doctrine' has to offer a little too much. Barring the unnecessary dialogue piece, each of these tracks is a self-contained expression of mediocrity. Of the ten death metal tracks here, there is not one that stands out. Pestilence are reborn as a bland technical death metal act, although many of the guitar riffs here lack complexity. The guitar parts are rarely melodic, yet too predictable and cold to be considered heavy or exciting. At moments where there is a clear opportunity for Pestilence to do something really great, they shirk back and go for something expected, another few measures of chugging riffs, perhaps? To band mastermind Patrick Mameli's credit though, his guitar solos sound fantastic, essentially playing jazz in a metal setting. This slight fusion is only evident in the all-too scarce leads on 'Doctrine' though. The rest only seeks to underwhelm.

The vocals of Mameli have not necessarily deteriorated all that much from the band's heyday, but there is far too much of a focus on his growls here. Besides that they are mixed too highly, the guitars seem to roast on the backburner quite a bit of the time while the Schuldiner-esque vocals rasp away. The problem here is that it leads to much of the album's instrumentation building around vocals and providing 'back up', rather than grabbing hold of the reins and consistently impressing me from a technical level. The young blood drummer Yuma Van Eekelen performs very well though, pummeling away at the kit and giving a nice fire under the stale casserolle that Pestilence has become.

2011 certainly has not been the proudest year for death metal, and its sorry to see a band that was once so great, become so frightened to do anything new. The same fans who rejected Pestilence's progressive inclinations will probably find themselves pleased with 'Doctrine', but the new material of this band is unnecessary by any other means. 'Doctrine' has not been the biggest disappointment of its genre this year- after all, who can forget about that tragic Morbid Angel album- but there needs to be the will to do something new in this band before I can find myself interested in anything new they do.

The early 90's can be seen as the golden era for death metal. Particularly in the south- eastern United States, bands like Death and Atheist were taking the young genre to heights of perfection, fusing classical music and jazz into the gritty, extreme sound. On the other side of the Atlantic ocean is Pestilence, a band that sounds quite a bit like the aforementioned groups. Hailing from the Netherlands, this band takes after the American pioneers, adding on a few elements onto the existing style, and comes out with an absolute masterpiece of progressive death metal. 'Spheres' may not be as widely regarded as the magnum opuses of Pestilence's US counterparts, but it is just as exciting of a listen.

Upon my first listen to this classic, my first intuition was to draw the comparison of Death's 'Symbolic' album, released around the same time as this. The growled vocals seem to be crossbred between Chuck Schuldiner of Death, and Kelly Shaefer of Atheist. With these sorts of comparisons, its a surprise that Pestilence isn't from Florida, as opposed to Holland. On a purely musical level, this band is very closely related to them. The guitarwork is composed of dark, jazzy-infused metal riffs that will get your head banging and thinking at the same time. Also an important aspect of this brand of death metal is the heavy presence of the bass guitar. Thesseling's bass performance is very jazz-influenced and clean, contrasting the guitars, filling the mix, and giving something to listen for on subsequent listens. The album is very short, lasting little over half an hour, but the tracks flow together as if 'Spheres' was a single piece of music. I may have preferred this album to last a little longer, but the brevity is only reason enough to take it for another spin right after.

While Pestilence is very close in sound and style to the Floridan death metal scene, they do bring one very unique element to the table, that being the use of synthesizers. In tandem with the proggy death metal madness, there is a back up of strange synth sounds that gives the music a spacey, sometimes otherworldly feel. 'Spheres' would have turned out to be a very capable death metal album without this addition, but with it, it creates that much more of a distinctive musical experience, and makes me feel like I am part of the album art, lost in space amidst the debris. Pestilence could be called a clone of the American bands, but I do think they bring enough fresh material to the table to be worthy on their own merits. Not only that, but they manage to take the progressive death metal style and make something of it that really amazes me, perhaps even moreso than Death or Atheist ever did. This is a really incredible album.

..."Doctrine" is ultimately a very different album from "Resurrection Macabre" though and after listening to only a few tracks it´s obvious that Pestilence have turned up the knob on the progressive/technical tendencies again. We´re presented with fiercely aggressive technical death metal with a lead vocalist in Patrick Mameli who delivers his most intense and caustic performance yet. The playing on the album is really strong too. New drummer Yuma Van Eekelen needs a special mention for his varied and skillfull playing but also the 7-string fretless bass playing by the returning Jeroen Paul Thesseling adds a lot to the soundscape. The jazzy guitar soloing which were about the only progressive feature on "Resurrection Macabre", are also present on "Doctrine". This time they feel a bit more natural and blends in well with the rest of the music. Probably because the rest of the music is generally more progressive too.

The quality of the tracks is high throughout but tracks like "Amgod", "Doctrine", "Deception" and "Sinister" are definitely among the highlights. The lyrics feature some pretty strong anti-religious themes. We´re not talking blasphemous/satanic lyrics but rather critical anti-religious lyrics. I think the lyrical themes work well together with the caustic vocal delivery and it´s one of the great assets on "Doctrine". Of course the well played and quite intricate heavy riffs are also one of the assets. There´s a definite Gorguts, "Obscura (1998)"-era, influence in the most dissonant riffing, but as always Pestilence sound like Pestilence. They are one of the few extreme metal acts that actually has a unique sound and allthough they´ve experimented and developed their core sound throughout the years (with varying degrees of success) all albums they´ve released are unmistakably the sound of Pestilence.

I enjoy just about every aspect of "Doctrine". The sound production is sharp and powerful, the musicianship is excellent and the songwriting clever yet packs punch. "Doctrine" would certainly have made a much more effective comeback album than the more mediocre "Resurrection Macabre". A 4 star rating is deserved.

Anyone familiar with Pestilence's jazzy and progressive spin on technical death metal should instantly recognize Doctrine as the band's work. Doctrine does have a sleek, modern edge, but at its core this album is technical death metal in the vein of Death or Atheist with an additional jazzy edge. The fretless 7-string bass playing from Jeroen Paul Thesseling especially adds a jazzy touch that reminds me a lot of the bass playing on the legendary Spheres album. The rest of the musicians are also terrific, with Yuma Van Eekelen's fantastic drumming also standing out as something from a technically gifted machine. I've heard plenty of complaints about Patrick Mameli's vocal delivery, which (admittedly) is quite an acquired taste, but I absolutely adore his tortured growling style here. I'd say it's among his finest performances yet - the man simply sounds insane on this album, and quite original as well... I can't say I've heard very many death metal vocalists who sound anywhere near Mameli's unconventional sound on Doctrine! The production is a bit flat and generic in my opinion, but it still is unquestionably of high quality. I just can't say I'm a big fan of the mix, especially the super-crunchy guitar tones. Again, it's an acquired taste, and this one I haven't yet been able to acquire.

Despite the nearly universal slandering I've heard about Doctrine, it's turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise for me, and an album I'd easily recommend to those who enjoy jazz-tinged technical death metal. Pestilence may not have outdone their classic albums from the first half of the 90's, but that's certainly a large task and a nearly-unreasonable expectation. What they've managed to create here is yet another great addition into their catalog in the vein of Spheres - and that's certainly fine by me! Technical death metal fans are advised to get this one, assuming they've already heard a decent chunk of Pestilence's backcatalog. 3.5 stars are fair here.

Pestilence is a dutch metal band that release some quite respectable albums in late '80's to early '90's , one of them is for sure their forth release named Spheres. Graced by a great cover art , first thing that comes in mind after listning to this album is how great keybords sounds here on this album, but after I read the booklet where is written big and clear "there are no keybords on this album" I begun to re listen again and again to know what is going one, musicaly. Now I know this album since it hits the stors in 1993 and is one of my first album I've got on CD. Still enjoing very much this kind of metal, death metal with jazz interplays, very much like like Death on Individual Thought Patterns, Atheist and Cynic , quite technical, hursh vocals melted over some fantastic musicicnship. One of the better albums from this scene, from early '90's Pestilence never gained a big popularity like other names like Death, Atheist, Cynic and even some of the passages remind me of Psychotic Waltz without that mean vocals, so they disbanded in 1994 and re united after a decade of silence releasing couple of albums in recent years. This album stood the test of time well, some pieces are killer like for ex maybe the smoothest from here Personal energy, excellent track where Pestilence realy shines. Finaly while is a good towards great album, some unenjoyble moemnts are present, to my ears is to much the same, talking about riffs and compositional direction, I mean sometimes I don't know if I'm listnig to one or another piece because the structure of the piece is the same, only the back ground synth guitars gives to the piece a more diverse sound, the synth guitar that I thought in first place are keybords, intristing and very well done moments on synth guitar. So, 3.5 is the best I can do, no more no less, even is good for sure, I prefer Death, Atheist or Cynic. Nevertheless one of the front albums of the genre.